"No Party Preference" Fastest-Growing California Electorate Segment

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Independent candidates sparse in California despite voter gains (By the Associated Press, The Reporter Vacaville CA) Voters who declare "no party preference" have been the fastest-growing segment of the California electorate and this year hit 21 percent of its 18.2 million registered voters. That is just 8 percentage points behind those registering as Republicans, who now account for less than 30 percent.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• In 2014, All Initiatives Should Be on June Ballot (By Joe Mathews, NBC San Diego blog) Because the real general election in California is now in June, not November. This change in the general election was part of the establishment of the top-two primary, but few have remarked on this reality because of all the confusion about the top two.
• Open primary defeat not just about money (Yuma Sun) It is a system that puts emphasis on candidate competence, not party politics. Winners may be from the same party or separate parties. It doesn't matter because the goal is to get the best office holders, not the best person from each party. It is essentially a nonpartisan form of election, and that is what makes it attractive to supporters who want to rid the election process of the current bitter partisan rivalries between parties.

What If We All Become Independent Voters?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• What if we all become 'independent' voters? (Letter to the Editor, Kennebec Journal) If millions of citizens changed their voter registration to "independent" or "unaffiliated," we would be letting Congress know that they have lost our party loyalty and now we want to see performance. Let them know their party system is in jeopardy of becoming very irrelevant.

Friendly amendment: Let them know their party system HAS BECOME very irrelevant...

• Overselling the importance of independent voters (Posted by Glenn Kessler, Washington Post/The Fact Checker) The “independent” vote is a political chimera — an ever-changing organism that does not shed much light on who is going to win the election. Political ideology is a much better guide to figuring out who is going to be the winner — and the loser.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• The Top-Two Verdict: Little Gains, Plenty of Costs The top-two system produced few little gains -- not nearly enough to make up for its costs. (By Joe Mathews, NBC San Diego/Prop Zero) Let's hope California's good government community comes to its senses and takes a clear-eyed look at the evidence. Louisiana and Washington state have shifted to top two -- with no discernible positive impact on their politics. And, unfortunately, other states, unaware of the costs, are considering top two. The good news is that Arizona voters turned down top two.
• More top-two primaries like Washington’s could be the answer to crippling political partisanship (By Kate Riley, Seattle Times editorial page editor) Washington state’s top-two primary is a model for the nation. Author Mickey Edwards suggests other states should follow Washington to send more moderates to Congress…. “The revolution is starting,” Edwards said. “It’s started in Washington and California.”
• How to win in California's top-two system (by Sean J. Miller, Campaigns and Elections) Thrown together by redistricting in a conjoined San Fernando Valley seat, Berman initially faced Sherman in the June primary, which was the first statewide use of California's new top-two system. Berman lost by 10 points, but instead of going home under the new rules he advanced to the November election as the second-place finisher.
• How much did the Top Two Primary change California elections? (Ed Coghlan, California Forward) It’s a question that will be better answered after Tuesday’s election, but there’s no doubt it has changed the political landscape of the Golden State. At least that’s the conclusion of political scientists from Cal Tech and MIT who are studying the state’s new primary system. In 2010, California voters changed the primary system by approving Prop. 14, which reduces the influence of the political parties. Rather than having a guaranteed Democrat and Republican in a November general election, the new system selects the two candidates with the most votes for the November general election, even if they are from the same party.

Cathy Stewart and Harry Kresky: Independent Voices on Arizona Failed Grassroots Effort to Win Top Two Nonpartisan Elections

NYC Independence Party chief organizer Cathy Stewart asks independent attorney Harry Kresky about the recent defeat of the Arizona initiative to secure nonpartisan elections. The parties don't favor non-partisan structural reform. Hmmm... Kresky talks about the fundamentals:

But the Supreme Court action does not mean the "Open Government/Open Elections'' initiative actually will be on the November ballot.

Independents Support Arizona Top-Two Open Primary Initiative

By Chad Peace | 10/15/2012 By Chad Peace | 10/15/2012 http://ivn.us/2012/10/15/independents-support-arizona-top-two-open-primary-initiative/
IndependentVoting.org, a national strategy, communications, and organizing center working to connect and empower the 40% of Americans who identify themselves as independents, has begun conducting a survey to educate and activate Arizona voters about Proposition 121, the Top-Two Open Primary Initiative.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - Nov. 14

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Obama and Independents: The Micro, the Macro, and the Forest (Jacqueline Salit, Huffington Post) The Democrats have settled on an electoral strategy based on appealing to Americans on the basis of identity (ethnicity, gender, etc.) and the fear that the Republicans will shred the safety net. But sheer demographics and maintaining the status quo is not enough. Creative and innovative approaches to social and economic problems that are desperately needed, and are being worked on in the nonprofit sector, outside the party dominated governmental apparatus, can only thrive in the fresh air of a non-partisan political culture.
• Google Founder Calls U.S. A 'Bonfire of Partisanship' (By AMIR EFRATI, Wall Street Journal) Supported Obama. As a result, he called the government a "bonfire of partisanship" and urged Tuesday's winners to go independent "in name and in spirit." He concluded: "It is probably the biggest contribution you can make to the country."
• Why Winning The Independent Vote Can Actually Be A Bad Thing (Brett LoGiurato, Business Insider) In fact, what the Independent vote is often more telling of is a lack of commitment among "leaners" to the party.
• First Thoughts: Lessons learned? (NBC News/First Read) So now twice in the last three elections -- in 2004 and 2012 -- the winner has lost the indie vote. What does this mean? Well, party ID appears to matter much more...
• Editorial: Wisconsin remains proudly independent (The Northwestern) Religion, race and sexual orientation are increasingly non-factors.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Let's review redistricting, primary rules (Asheville NC Citizen Times) Now that there are no immediate election pressures, this would be a good time to reform the process. A nonpartisan redistricting commission would do worlds of good, and open primaries are an idea worth exploring… North Carolina ought to wait for more data before making any commitment to open primaries. There is, however, no reason to hold up on the redistricting commission. Salamanders are good in nature but not in politics.
• Proposition 121 - Voters shut door on open primary proposition (Sean Peick, Cronkite News Service, Tucson Sentinel) Voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure to do away with Arizona's partisan primary system in favor of open primaries advancing top vote-getters regardless of party. Unofficial returns showed Proposition 121 trailing by a wide margin.
• Koch Brothers Defeat Prop 121 “Top-Two” Open Primary in AZ (By Chad Peace, IVN) The Koch brothers funneled more than half a million dollars to fund the partisan attack on Proposition 121. The money powered an aggressive “No” campaign, led in a bipartisan manner by the leaders of the Republican, Democrat, and even third parties in Arizona.
• Editorial: GOP risks becoming irrelevant - Party must broaden its base (Statesman Journal) Being a Republican, or a Democrat, isn’t enough to win election in Oregon. Candidates must take clearly defined, well-articulated positions instead of relying on personality or party affiliation.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - September 19

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Analysis: WMUR Poll shows Romney, Obama still fighting over N.H. independent voters (WMUR) For 20 years, independent voters have decided general elections in New Hampshire. The reason is obvious: they are the largest voting block. The most recent voter registration numbers suggest that 38.5 percent of registered voters are “undeclared.”
• The Romney conundrum: Winning independents but losing overall (By Christian Heinze, The Hill/ Ballot Box) And during that time, Romney has done something with independents Obama has yet to do — lead among them by double digits. In fact, post-Democratic National Convention, a CBS/New York Times poll had Romney up by 11 percentage points with independents, while a CNN survey had him up by 14. Meanwhile, Obama led overall by 3 in the CBS poll and 6 in the CNN survey. Simply put, Romney is winning nationally with independents, but they’re not playing their usual tiebreaking role in elections.

OPEN PRIMARIES
Let the debate on open primary finally begin (ARIZONA DAILY SUN) With two months to go before the votes are counted Nov. 6, we can expect a vigorous campaign by both sides, although we will be interested to see which groups come out in defense of the status quo. On the other hand, any change to the electoral process as substantive as the one that will ushered in by Prop. 121 is bound to have some unintended consequences, and we'll be interested to learn what those scenarios might contain. So far, neither Washington state nor California has encountered major problems with their new open primary systems, and we urge Arizona voters to become educated on the issue and cast an informed vote on Nov. 6.

News of the Day & Notes for Independent Voters - September 13

NOTE: Thanks to all who noticed that I put "August 5" on my September 5 post! Apparently, time's a-wastin'!

ANOTHER NOTE: Big shout-out to Jackie Salit on her national book tour with Independents Rising (Palgrave)! Check out the delightfully energetic review by The View Point below: "Independents Rising is all at once a history book, a mystery/thriller, a soap opera and a textbook on grass-roots political movements. Salit’s writing, crisp and descriptive, takes us through her first-hand journey of becoming involved in politics as a kid, working “both sides of the fence”, working for democrats and republicans in the mid to late 1960’s and early 70’s. She worked in the news business for part of the mid 1970’s for a while and then became involved in the birth of a political party: The New Alliance Party. Fred Newman, the patriarch of this party established in 1979 and Salit remain life-long friends and traveling companions as they both made the somewhat surreal journey through the ups and down of the independent political movements over the next 3 decades."

AND ANOTHER NOTE: Morton Kondracke says Prez Obama ignored independents in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Party convention (see below). Personally, I don't think he ignored independent voters -- worse, he has no idea who independents are and therefore addresses independents mistakenly. This is especially disturbing given that independents were his margin of victory, in open primary states, in a hotly contested Democratic primary against Hillary "My Turn" Clinton in 2008, and went on to become his margin of victory in a ruthlessly honest and proud battle against the powers that be in the general election. Fortunately, independents are not depending on the President to fight for us. But he would be smart to call for Congressional Hearings on the state of independent voters, now 40 percent of the electorate, who suffer all manner of indignities and infringement of voting rights.

INDEPENDENTS RISING

• Political books to get readers ready for the campaign (By Jean Marie Brown, Forth Worth Star Telegram) Mickey Edwards also looks at Washington's gridlock and how it is harming the country in The Parties Versus the People: How To Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans. Yale University Press, $25. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Salit's Independents Rising: Outsider Movements, Third Parties and the Struggle for a Post-Partisan America puts a face to the independents who, she says, were the key to Barack Obama's win in 2008. Palgrave Macmillan, $25
• Book Review - Independents Rising (The View Point) If you do not know who Jacqueline Salit is and you care about politics, then you need to get yourself introduced to her and her writings. Ms. Salit, along with many others who are discussed in her book has been saving our “political backsides” for the last 30+ years. Without Ms. Salit’s work, we would likely all be political serfs giving favor to our noble lords and masters in the two major political parties and receiving only paltry scraps of progress in return.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Majority of Central Mass Voters are Independent - Why It Matters (Adam Joseph Drici, GoLocalWorcester Contributor)  According to new data released by the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office, 289,202 primary voters registered as unenrolled in Worcester County. This group of unenrolled voters represents 57.59 percent of the roughly 500,000 total voters registered in the county. 145,252 voters, or 28.92 percent, registered as Democrats, and only 64,505, or 12.85 percent registered as Republicans. 705 voters registered as Green-Rainbow.

OBAMA

• Obama's Speech Ignores Independent Voters (By Morton M. Kondracke, Roll Call Senior Editor) Heading into the Charlotte, N.C., convention, President Barack Obama was in trouble with independent voters. But instead of winning them back with appeals to national unity and promises of  compromise, he told them: You've got a stark choice - so choose. He tossed them (us) a few rhetorical bones - a reference to the Simpson-Bowles debt commission he previously ignored, a bow to free enterprise as a jobs engine, acknowledgement that government can't do everything and needs reform.
• September 13, 2012 - Obama Tops Romney Almost 2-1 In New York, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Gillibrand Does Even Better In Senate Race  -- In today's survey, President Obama leads 94 - 4 percent among Democrats and 58 - 37 percent among independent voters, while Republicans turn to Romney 89 - 10 percent. Obama has big leads among all income and age groups.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Primaries Decide Statehouses as Arizona Weighs Top-2 Plan (By Amanda J. Crawford, BloombergBusinessweek) Many states, including Arizona, have sought to change the electoral process through measures ranging from public financing for campaigns and term limits for lawmakers, to overhauls of redistricting. The move to scrap partisan primaries, a more pronounced shift in how elections are conducted, comes as hundreds of statehouse races nationwide are uncontested and there is little or no competitiveness in many districts, including for the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Judge: Open-primaries initiative qualifies for November ballot (Howard Fischer, Arizona Star)
• Arizona Supreme Court Upholds ‘Top 2’ Initiative (By Shawn M. Griffiths, IVN) “The problem is people are expressing some kind of dissatisfaction with government,” Dr. Downing replied. “Specifically, they feel that government doesn’t express the consent of the governed.”

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - August 5

INDEPENDENTVOTING.ORG NETWORKS

• CNN's Gary Tuchman talks to Omar Ali and Ana Navarro about voting habits and race in politics. (CNN VIDEO) - see below
• Dr. Ali on CNN August 25, 2012 VIDEO (CNN WITH DON LEMON) Dr. Omar Ali, UNC-Greensboro professor and director of IndependentVoting.org, with Ana Navarro, Republican strategist, on CNN with Don Lemon August 25, 2012 - see below

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Can Independent Voters Gain Power and Create Change? (By Jacek Popiel, IVN.us) Today we have the problems, the discontent and a large mass of neglected voters, but as of yet, little response.

ARIZONA
Taking the Politics Out of Redistricting (Or Not)  (Tucson Weekly) 3 to 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 20; $100 donation. The seminar is in Phoenix, and in Tucson via videoconferencing.

THE PARTIES VERSUS THE PEOPLE
Mickey Edwards On Democracy's 'Cancer' (NPR/ Fresh Air from WHYY - with COMMENTS) Edwards says party primaries are a major reason why Congress consists of politicians who are committed to sticking with a particular ideology and are unwilling to compromise. The most ideological and partisan candidates tend to succeed in party primaries, Edwards says.

THIRD PARTY
Third-party quandary (Written by Craig Lyons, Portland ME Daily Sun) The biggest influence of third parties is the impact they can have on the dialogue and policies of the two major parties, according to Schmidt.

CNN's Gary Tuchman with Omar Ali and Ana Navarro


CNN's Don Lemon with Dr. Omar Ali and Ana Navarro

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - August 29

It's not too late: What should Obama do to appeal to independents? Step out in favor of structural political reform!

INDEPENDENTS RISING
Must-Reads for the Rabble-Rouser (By Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair/Just My Type) Jacqueline Salit’s Independents Rising (Palgrave Macmillan) surveys the political impact of the grassroots groups stirring up trouble on both sides of the mainstream.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independent voters are a growing part of Arizona's electorate (by Rebekah L. Sanders, The Republic) From June to the most recent count on Aug. 14, voters opting for no party preference ticked up 1.5 percent, or 18,757, to nearly match Republicans' 1.25 million registered voters, according to figures from Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett's office. Democratic and Republican registrations grew by less than 1 percent. Jacqueline Salit, president of the independent-voter advocacy group IndependentVoting.org, said more voters are turning away from the two major parties because they don't feel their views are represented… She champions the Open Elections/Open Government initiative in Arizona as a way to get more independent voters, who historically have low primary-election turnout, to get more involved. [ALSO SEE OPEN PRIMARIES BELOW]
• Opinion: Obama’s best argument for reelection (By Lanny J. Davis, The Hill) Obama would enhance his chances to win the crucial undecided independent vote by endorsing the bipartisan recommendations of his own Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission — increasing revenues through closing tax loopholes, cutting spending and undertaking entitlement reform.
• Romney readies final stage of campaign (By Christian Heinze, The Hill) Disgruntled, undecided independents voters are ripe for the picking, yet many haven’t made up their minds. According to the TPM aggregate, Romney is leading Obama among independents, 43 percent to 41, but he has the chance to go much higher, thanks to Obama’s low approval rating with the group.
• Floridians voted for Obama in 2008, will again in 2012 (By Dava Castillo, AllVoices) In 2008 the “no party affiliation” (NPA) outnumbered the Independents, with NPA at 1,957,049 and Independents at 272,313, which is quite a spread according to the state of Florida voter profile. While some are saying focus on the Independents, if the numbers resemble 2008 the NPA is where the undecided voters are located. This, however, is an unwieldy demographic, and Independent/no party affiliation voters swing between parties depending on which candidates they think will serve their interests. But they also don’t vote as often as people committed to a party, which is all the more reason for the Democrats to work at the grassroots level in key counties to make sure people are registered and can get to the voting booth in November.

OPEN PRIMARIES [ARIZONA]

• Open-primary suit headed for hearing (by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic) But in the complaint to be heard Thursday afternoon, attorneys for the Open Elections committee argue the staffers validating voter signatures made errors, such as disqualifying people for not being registered voters when they actually are. They also fault the formula elections officials used to determine if there were adequate signatures. In all, the campaign attorneys argue they have 4,900 more signatures than necessary to gain a spot on the ballot.
• Will the Open Primaries initiative be on the Nov 2012 ballot or not? (video) (by Pamela Powers Hannley, Blog for Arizona.com) As of mid-August, Open Primaries was back on the ballot, until this week, when Maricopa County said that there were an extraordinary number of bad signatures. The latest news is that the Open Primaries/Open Government folks have filed a suit to get the initiative back on the ballot. Supporters claim that Maricopa County erroneously rejected.
• Open primaries could encourage more competition (Yuma Sun) The state's high court ruled last week that the open primary system met constitutional muster. A lower court had said it was illegal because it contained two separate proposals, which is not allowed under the Arizona Constitution. The Supreme Court said that is not the case. Now it turns out the legal dispute may not matter anyway. Questions are being raised by county election officials about whether the initiative has enough signatures to be put on the ballot. The outcome will not be known until the signatures are all verified.
• Open primary would force political shift (By Today’s News-Herald - Nogales International) An open primary would make the process more straightforward. It would also tend to tone down the long primary campaigns based on party purity and force candidates to consider how best to show they can represent their whole constituency.

LAST WORD
GOP voters get 12.45 percent of Colo. letters questioning citizenship (IVAN MORENO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Colorado Springs Gazette) U.S citizens are among those who received letters from Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler questioning their right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday… The vast majority of registered voters who received letters were Democrats or independent voters. Of the nearly 4,000 letters, 1,566 went to Democrats, and 1,794 went to unaffiliated voters. Another 486 letters were sent to Republicans, which equals 12.45 percent of the total.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - August 22

PARTIES VERSUS THE PEOPLE
Mickey Edwards Urges Congress, Before Party Affiliation Be 'an American First' (PBS News Hour with Judy Woodruff) Mickey Edwards, former Republican congressman, rails against political division in Washington in his new book, "The Parties Versus the People." Edwards talks to Judy Woodruff about his suggestions to reform party hostility and create "one congress serving one country. [SEE VIDEO BELOW]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Young Voters Becoming More Independent (By Eric Sharp, IVN) If the major parties want to survive they are going to have to play a different ball game. But judging by how the Republican Party establishment has responded to Ron Paul’s revolution within the party to bring libertarian and independent policies to the forefront, the GOP is not yet ready to accept the new political paradigm.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Primary election laws unfair to independents (LETTER Post Standard/ syracuse.com) In 18 states, independent voters cannot vote in the primary caucuses, but yet make up about 40 percent of the electorate.
• Friday was a big day for registered independent voters in Arizona [Open elections open government] (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen) Friday was a big day!  The Arizona Supreme Court issued an order declaring that the Open Elections Open Government Act is not unconstitutional and cleared the way for it to progress towards the ballot.

Watch Mickey Edwards Urges Congress, Be 'an American First' on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Arizona Open Primary Appeal: Independent Should Not Have to Pay for That

OpenPrimary Appeal Reaches Arizona Supreme Court (By Kymberly Bays, IVN) “If the initiative passes, it is entirely up to [the political parties] how they would like to run elections. They can gather signatures, set up online voting, hold a convention,” says Open Government committee member and co-author of the Open Elections/Open Government Act, Karen Schroeder. “The key point is Arizona independents should not have to pay for that.” “1 in 3 Arizona voters are independents. It’s very unfair to expect those voters to fund partisan primary elections,” she adds.

IndependentVoters Rule Congressional District 9 - Arizona's newest district (AP, KFYI Phoenix) At 34.6 percent of the roughly 362,000 voters in the district, more are registered as independents than either Republicans or Democrats. About 34 percent are listed as Republicans and 30 percent are listed as Democrats.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - July 31

NATIONAL
Political parties turn to independent voters for edge in November (By Jim Angle, FoxNews.com) David Winston, a Republican strategist, said such independents made up 22 percent of voters in 2002. "In 2010, they had grown to make up about 29 percent of the electorate," he said. "So clearly as the exit polls have shown, they've grown quite a bit." And a Gallup poll recently reported that independents account for 35 percent or more of voters in most recent elections.



ARIZONA
Opponents ask court to toss out initiative on Arizona open primaries (Howard Fischer, Arizona Daily Star) A judge will hear arguments next week on whether Arizona voters get to decide if they want to scrap the current system of partisan primaries. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Brain will consider claims by foes of the open-primary initiative that it unconstitutionally asks voters to make too many changes in the law with a single vote.

FLORIDA

• Florida voter registrations: a rising tide of independence (By Christine Stapleton, Palm Beach Post) The number of independent voters has climbed steadily in Florida since 1972 — when Democrats had an overwhelming majority with 68.5 percent of voters, Republicans had 28.2 percent and independents, only 3.4 percent. But since since the infamous November 2000 election, the number of independent voters in the state has swelled more than 75 percent, from 1.5 million in 2000 to 2.7 million today, making up 23.8 percent of the statewide voting electorate.
• All voters should elect leaders (EDITORIAL News Chief) In Miami-Dade County two voters have gone to federal court in an attempt to force the Democratic primary for state attorney to be open to all voters. In their lawsuit, Republican Armando Lacasa and independent Vincent Mazilli claim that close to 700,000 Republicans, independents and third-party voters should have say in the election, not just the county's 525,890 registered Democrats. We hope they win -- and that the ruling comes down before the Aug. 14 primary.
• Judge Rules SAO Race Will Be A Closed Primary (CBS Local) A federal judge has ruled that only Democrats will be able to cast ballots in the Miami-Dade State Attorney race in the August primary. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Zloch denied a motion from two voters who sought to open up the election by becoming “write in” candidates, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.
• Write-ins used to close Florida primary elections (Written by BILL KACZOR, South Florida Times) If the winner of a Democratic or Republican primary in Florida won't face opposition in the general election, then that primary is open to all voters without regard to party registration under a state constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly in 1998.

COLORADO
Former state Rep. Kathleen Curry makes HD 61 ballot as an unaffiliated candidate (By Tim Hoover, The Denver Post) Former state Rep. Kathleen Curry of Gunnison, who famously bolted from the Democratic party in 2009 to become unaffiliated, has made the ballot for House District 61, a seat that sprawls across several mountain counties, as an unaffiliated candidate.

OHIO
Redistricting overhaul would ensure that each vote counts (BY MARILOU JOHANEK, Toledo Blade) To stop the remapping by Republicans in Ohio, who gamed the system to their advantage, a coalition of nonpartisan organizations, known as Voters First Ohio, came up with a sane solution. It's a constitutional amendment that would put district mapmaking in the hands of a 12-person citizen commission.

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - July 18

OBAMA AND THE INDEPENDENTS
Is Obama's Problem With Independents Actually a Problem with the General Electorate? (Nate Cohn, The New Republic) So is it useful to say that Obama has an independent problem? A little—it helps clarify the importance of Democratic turnout to Obama’s chances. It also might help explain the behavior of one critical swing state, which I’ll explain in the next post. But Obama’s independent problem isn’t much different than his problem with the electorate as a whole.

THIRD PARTIES

• On Greens and Libertarians (Peter Ubertaccio, Director, Joseph Martin Institute for Law & Society, Stonehill College, Huffington Post) Attempts to offer real third party choices reached their zenith with the independent candidacy of Ross Perot in 1992. Since then they've largely fallen flat, most spectacularly with the collapse of Americans Elect earlier this year. Yet choices remain in the form of the Green Party and Libertarian Party, two hearty entities that continue to go nowhere electorally. Neither has the organization, fundraising, or name recognition for its nominees to do much more than a few percentage points this fall, if that.
• Guest Column: Presidential alternative fizzles: What went wrong with Americans Elect? (By Jacqueline Salit, Rock River Times) In this, Ackerman and company misread independent voters, the self-declared engine for a new direction in American politics. Independents want to root out systemic partisanship. They don’t want to ameliorate it with appeals to centrism, bipartisanship or a better brand of candidate.

ARIZONA
Attention registered independents: independent voter candidate Mike Stauffer for Sheriff signs available August 4 (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase on Jul. 17, 2012, Tucson Citizen) As many of you may already know, the reason why Stauffer doesn’t have his signs out now is because election law does not allow him to put signs out until 90 days before the general election date. I know some of you are seeing other candidate signs out and that is because they still have to vie for their spot on the general election ballot. Mike is already going to be on the general election ballot…even though Penzone people attempted a petty lawsuit against him.

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - July 17

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Independent Voters of America Seeks to Reduce Gridlock (By johnschneideR, IVN) At the end of May the team at Independent Voters of America announced the launch of the most inclusive ongoing study of independent voters’ opinions with our iVoter Project. Our goal is to build the most comprehensive database of how independent voters really feel about a diverse range of political issues, and to use the analysis of this database to challenge the narrative perpetuated by the mainstream media, major polling organizations and the two mainstream political parties regarding the role of independent voters in elections and our political system.

ARIZONA

• Highly Influential registered independent latino voter – Carlos Sierra writes Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallegos (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen) He is a registered Latino independent voter now.  He was the national campaign advisor for Independent candidate –Buddy Roemer who ran for President, too.  In addition to that, Sierra worked for Sen. John McCain for almost a decade in community outreach and made many, many friends and worked with grassroots leaders in the Democratic, Republican and Independent Party here in Arizona … which puts him in the highly influential category for the State of Arizona.
• Arizona elections may bring Democratic-majority delegation (by Rebekah L. Sanders and Dan Nowicki, Tucson Citizen) Republicans hold the voter- registration edge in Arizona, about 1.2 million to 1 million Democratic voters. Independents make up roughly another 1.2 million.

OHIO
Commenters have plenty to say about independent voting trend (By Gayle Beck, CantonRep.com opinion page editor) All of this is the reason we should have open primary elections for presidential candidates, so we can vote for the best primary candidate regardless of their party. It is criminal that a person in Ohio cannot vote in a presidential primary without choosing one party’s ballot, which then lists you as a Rep or Dem in the public voter registration lists. Then, these voter lists showing Rep or Dem with the person’s name are published online in some counties — which in effect means we have no secret vote, and we have no way of voting for the best candidate who might be of the other party. If we go “non-partisan,” then we cannot vote in the primary. It is ridiculous and un-American.  Thinkingamerican

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - July 14

"CIVIL POLITICS"
SHERMAN: Film explores civility in politics (By LOLA SHERMAN For the North County Times) Last year, the college staged a public-issues symposium on the subject of "Civility in Our Civic Discourse." It explored what often has become a lack of civility, both in politics and media. A guest speaker was former U.S. Congressman Mickey Edwards, R-Okla., who spoke to a full house at the college's Community Learning Center in Oceanside.

OBAMA AND THE INDEPENDENT VOTE

• Clear And ‘Independent’ Danger (The Note) (By MICHAEL FALCONE and AMY WALTER) Digging into the crosstabs of this week’s ABC News-Washington Post poll it’s clear that Obama has a significant problem with independent voters. On every measure, independents are significantly more disappointed with the President and more open to a Romney message.
• Obama holds ‘significant lead’ over Romney in new national poll (By Paul West, Boston Herald/Tribune) A similar shift was reflected among independent voters, a prized target for both candidates, who are now almost evenly divided on who would best improve the economy. In June, Romney enjoyed a 13-point edge among independents on that question. The latest survey, like most polling at this stage of the campaign, did not attempt to narrow the contest down to likely voters. Obama’s lead, Pew found, stemmed from the fact that more voters currently identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans, and that virtually identical proportions of each say they will back their party’s nominee. Put another way, the results of the survey are yet a further indication that voter mobilization will be crucial in determining the winner of this year’s election.

FLORIDA
Judge holds off on ruling in Miami-Dade State Attorney election write-in issue (By DAVID OVALLE, Miami Herald) A federal judge said he will decide Friday whether to force Miami-Dade County to open up the State Attorney’s Aug. 14 primary election to more than 700,000 Republican and independent voters. U.S. Judge William Zloch heard arguments Thursday, but stopped short of deciding immediately. Two voters are suing Miami-Dade’s election supervisor, saying that a “loophole” in the state’s election law that allows write-in candidates to close primary elections is disenfranchising thousands of voters.

ARIZONA
BREAKING: Independent voters surge while Democratic voters in Arizona drop by 52,000 in 2011. (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen/Hispanic Politico) On the other hand, this is good news for the independent voters — and despite fraudulent misconceptions that are out there, indeed independent Arizona voters are able to vote and participate in the Arizona primary election process. As an independent voter, I left the Republican party for good due to their extremism, however, the Democratic Party leadership is also turning off Latino Democratic voters, too, because they are walking a dangerous line.

OHIO
Attempt to Overturn GOP Redistricting Moves Forward  - Organization submits 450,000 petition signatures to Ohio Secretary of State (City Beat - Cincinnati) On July 3, Voters First, a coalition established after HB-369's inception to combat the bill's Republican-led efforts to deliberately have congressional and legislative districts drawn in their favor, submitted 450,000 petition signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State — significantly more than the 385,000 signatures necessary to obtain a spot on the November ballot. At the end of the month, the Secretary of State will review the signatures and determine which are eligible, after which the coalition will have another set period to obtain more signatures, should the 385,000 not be met.

COLORADO
Unaffiliated candidate running for Colorado House (LETTER Snowmass Sun by Kathleen Curry) The overwhelming positive response and encouragement I received while completing the ballot petition process has energized the campaign and convinced me that voters are ready for the current political system to be reformed and improved.

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - July 11

RISE OF INDEPENDENTS

• More Arizona voters going independent (by Alex Stuckey, The Republic) Of the 3.1 million registered voters in Arizona, about 36 percent are Republican, about 30 percent are Democrats and about 33 percent are independents, according to the report.
• Independent Voter Surge Cuts Democrats’ Swing State Edge (By John McCormick, Bloomberg) The collective total of independents grew by about 443,000 in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina since the 2008 election, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from state election officials. During the same time, Democrats saw a net decline of about 480,000 in those six states, while Republicans -- boosted in part by a competitive primary earlier this year -- added roughly 38,000 voters in them, the analysis shows.
• Analysis: Independents jump in key swing states (By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY) In the 2008 election, Obama won 52% of the independent vote, according to surveys of voters as they left their polling places. He and Republican John McCain both handily won the vote of their party faithful, but the exit polls show it was the independents that made the difference.
• Swing states poll: Amid barrage of ads, Obama has edge (By Susan Page, USA TODAY) To be sure, Obama's ads have done more to win back Democrats than to win over independents or Republicans: Thirteen percent of Democrats say their minds have been changed by ads, compared with 9% of independents and 3% of Republicans.

NEW YORK POLITICS
Working Families Party Begins to Weigh in on City Council Races (By Colin Campbell, NY OBSERVER/Politicker) With a huge number of term-limited council members leaving open seats behind them, control of the Council’s powerful speakership hangs in the balance, creating a possible opportunity for the WFP to secure the position for a labor ally if they can win enough of these races. Which is likely why they’re weighing in so early.

More Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - June 11

• With Political Polarization at All-Time High, Americans Say 'Listen to Me' (TRANSCRIPT PBS NewsHour - Judy Woodruff, Andrew Kohut, Linda Killian and others) ANDREW KOHUT: Almost all of the increase that we see occurred not gradually over the past 25 years, but in the past 10 years, that is to say during the administrations of George W. Bush and now Barack Obama.
• Hyper-partisanship dragging down nation (By John Avlon, CNN Contributor) It's not your imagination: Our politics are more polarized than at any point in recent history. That's the conclusion of a new survey from the indispensable Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. And if you needed more evidence of the passionate and sometimes poisonous polarization afflicting our nation, you didn't have to look further than the crowds in Wisconsin on Tuesday night after the recall attempt.
• Why Everyone Under 40 Should Be an Independent Voter (Bill Hillsman, Huffington Post) It's sad to say, but if you're under 40, you've probably never experienced functional American politics since the time you started to pay attention to politics... if you pay attention to politics. (And it's hard to blame you if you don't).
• Politics 2012: Partisanship at 20 paces (United Press International, Equities.com) Independents also have become more diverse since 2000, with 67 percent of independents saying they are non-Hispanic whites, down 12 percentage points from 2000. The proportion of independents who are Hispanic has nearly doubled -- from 9 percent to 16 percent -- in the same period.
• Open primary 'business as usual,' observers say (Stephanie Snyder - North County Times/California Watch) "It's business as usual," said Scott Lay, a political blogger and Community College League of California president and CEO. "If you look at the actual results in most districts, it could have been a regular primary." Although the strict definition of moderate, liberal and conservative often is difficult to pinpoint, in some races it was clear that the most ideological candidates advanced to November. That was the case in the Assembly districts that cover San Bernardino County and Irvine.
  GOP Lawmakers Sue Redistricting Commission (Story By Andrea Kelly, Arizona Public Media) In the lawsuit, the top Republicans in the Arizona House and Senate say the Redistricting Commission is in violation of the U.S. Constitution because it removes part of the Legislature’s authority to conduct congressional elections.
• The Rise of the independent voter revolution and what Arizona can learn from California Open Primary elections (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen) The California Open Primaries has helped a much needed Mexican-American candidate of California via Abel Maldonado.  I like Abel.  He didn’t demonize Mexican immigrants in order to get ahead and am especially glad to see more Mexican-American leadership. WITH JASON OLSON'S ARTICLE
• IndependentVoting.org pleased with independent candidate Mike Stauffer shedding light for open primaries (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen) Dear Mike, I was very pleased to learn that you are a strong supporter of the Top Two Open Primary initiative, and wish you luck in your independent campaign for Maricopa County Sheriff. As you know, Independentvoting.org is a training and strategy center for the growing independent movement, working with independents around the country in support of structural political reforms that can bring more nonpartisan governance. We have been actively supporting the Top Two Open Primary initiative organized by the Open Elections/Open Government coalition.
• Redistricting lawsuit a slap in your face (Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic) Politics is still front and center in the process. (It was probably naive to think that the parties -- both parties -- would behave themselves and butt out.) And clearly the committee is too small for today's Arizona, underrepresenting the independents who comprise a third of the state's electorate. But it's still better than having congressional and legislative districts drawn in the basement of the Capitol by legislators who, let's face it, have a lot riding on where those lines are drawn.
• Results of poll help to explain partisanship (Yuma Sun) The latest party registration numbers from the Office of the Arizona Secretary of State, which oversees Arizona election procedures, showed a similar breakdown as those recorded by the Pew center. According to numbers issued in March, there were 1,134,094 active Republicans registered in the state, 952,907 Democrats and 1,037,007 “other” — which means they claimed no preferred party and are therefore considered independent voters. A number of other minor political parties totaled less than 30,000.
• Kathleen Curry, Former Colorado Legislator Who Switched to Independent and was Barred from the Ballot, Will Try Again (Ballot Access News) She is running as an independent again this year, and she should have no trouble getting on the ballot.
• US Federal Justice Department Steps in to Stop Florida Voter Purge (By Timothy Troutner, IVN) The truth is somewhere in between, and it is not comforting. Election laws are not the unmovable guidelines voters believe them to be. They are tools in the hands of the party in power. Right now, the Republicans hold the power in Florida, and the Democrats hold the power at the Justice Department. This dispute is not about fair and just elections; it is about the power to determine who can vote. The reason the Florida voter purge is so contested is that it may affect the outcome of the election. Independent voters and voters in general are left behind as the two parties battle it out.
• King counts on Independent status to propel him to victory in November (Written by Craig Lyons,
  Portland ME Daily Sun) King said if Snowe left office to travel or try a new career, he wouldn't have thought much of it. But, he said, since she left because of the political climate in Washington, and complaints of partisan division, he couldn't sit back and do nothing.
  Given that partisanship has contributed significantly to the deadlock in Washington, King said he's in a unique position as an Independent.
• Primaries not energizing voters - Absentee ballot numbers suggest a very low turnout, even though U.S. Senate finalists are being chosen. (By John Richardson, State House Bureau, Maine Sunday Telegram) Although voters may still be trying to make up their minds, some election officials say the public just doesn't seem interested in the state and congressional primaries, even though Tuesday's vote is the first step in electing Maine's next U.S. senator. Ten Democrats and Republicans are on the ballots seeking their party's nomination for the seat.
• Is This Maine Independent the Solution to Our Partisan Woes? (By David Rohde, The Atlantic) King, a former Democrat who now rejects both Republican and Democratic dogma, is either an anachronism or a sign that some voters are tiring of partisanship. Keep in mind that a record number of Americans -- 40 percent -- identified themselves as independent in a January Gallup poll; 31 percent identified as Democrats and 27 percent as Republicans.
• Hakeem Jeffries Says 'No, Thank You' to Bloomberg-Backed Charter School PAC (By Jamie Schuh, Bed-Stuy Patch) Jeffries campaign spokeswoman Lupe Todd told the Daily News today that their campaign doesn’t believe that groups like StudentsFirstNY, which is run by a former Albany lobbyist for Mayor Bloomberg, should be involved in the race at all.

Arizona Open Elections-Open Government Campaign Set for Open Primaries Ballot Initiative

Breaking news: Arizona Open Elections-Open Government campaign pulls 280,000 signatures for open primary ballot initiative!

How open primaries would affect elections in Arizona (by David R. Berman, Arizona Republic) With registered independent voters in Arizona already outnumbering registered Democrats and soon to surpass the roster of registered Republicans, have political-party primaries outlived their usefulness? And is it time for Arizona to begin electing local, statewide and federal officeholders in a nonpartisan manner to reflect the more moderate views of the general population?
Breaking Good News: Open Elections-Open Government campaign surpasses minimum number of signatures to qualify! (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen/Hispanic Politico) With the signatures of over 280,000 Arizona voters in hand, leaders of a ballot initiative campaign that would reform Arizona’s election process by opening it up to more voters and more candidates today announced they have surpassed the minimum number of signatures required to place the measure on the November ballot.
Voter registration up for Tuesday's primary (By John Howard, Capitol Weekly) Nearly three out of four eligible voters in California have registered to cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, and fully a fifth of the electorate has declined to state a party preference, according to the state’s elections officer. About 1.4 million more Californians are registered now than in February 2008, the year of the last presidential primary election.
California's minor parties facing extinction under new voting system (By Josh Richman, Contra Costa Times) Election-reform advocate Steven Hill, co-founder of the nonprofit FairVote, said losing minor parties would result in an ever-narrowing political discourse. "Minor parties tend to be the laboratories for new ideas. They bring issues and ideas into the political discussion that the major parties often ignore," he said. "That's the first thing you're going to lose, and it's a fairly big loss.

Hankster News of the Day for Independents - May 31

Top picks for today.

The title of the article contains the link to the original, followed by the author and publication, and then a snipit from the article. You can subscribe to this briefing by email at FeedBlitz or choose your favorite newsreader... 

• Independent Voters of America Launches, Dumping on Both Parties (BY Micah L. Sifry, techPresident) Wait a second, isn't that what the just-failed Americans Elect said it was going to do? Actually, no. Says Hillsman, "We are building the largest online community of self-identified independent voters, with the goals of bringing fresh voices and more choices into our politics, acting as a counterweight to the two major political parties, and to reduce gridlock, force progress and bring a new accountability to Washington." Americans Elect sought to create a ballot line for an artificially-engineered "centrist" presidential ticket. The plan with IVA, he says, is "to give self-identified independent voters a gathering place" and then "see where people want to take this."
• The “2nd largest Party” in Arizona, and Russell Pearce and Joe Arpaio supporters don’t want Independents to have an “open primary” (by Dee Dee Garcia Blase, Tucson Citizen/Hispanic Politico) As an independent voter …. I DO SUPPORT THE OPEN PRIMARIES! 
• As We See It: Not-so-open primary election (Santa Cruz Sentinel) Now it appears the only way party organizations can even have a voice is by making an endorsement early, which is what happened in the U.S. Senate race.
• Linda Parks, Open Primary, Stand in Democrats' Path in California (By Scott Bland,National Journal/Hotline) Despite that, Parks has national Democrats scared that she could cost the party a much-needed seat in Congress. As a moderate independent in a crowded race, Parks is positioned perfectly to take advantage of California's new all-party, top-two primary.
• Despite Pres. Nomination SD Has Plenty On Ballot (By Ben Dunsmoor,KELO-land TV) For the first time, registered Independent voters will be able to make their voices heard in a statewide primary. "We're the only party in the state that allows, not just allows but welcomes, Independents into our party to participate in our primary to vote and take an active role in deciding who the Democrat nominee is going to be in the general election," Nesselhuf said.
• Proposal aims to let voters pick their politicians (The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin OH) Among eight potential statewide ballot issues this November is a constitutional amendment that would create a non-partisan, independent citizens commission which would be responsible for drawing legislative and congressional boundaries in Ohio.
• CEO In Chief? A Business Background Is Rare For Presidents (By Jim Zarroli, WBUR Boston - NPR) Former Republican Rep. Mickey Edwards says many successful CEOs are good at big-picture thinking — understanding all the component parts of a problem. But Edwards also says that business and politics are very different endeavors, and that someone who succeeds in one won't necessarily do well in another. "To run around saying we must run government like a business is really a silly idea," Edwards says. "It shows a total lack of understanding of the purposes of government."
• Koch Prefers Kelly for Mayor, But Quinn 'Capable' (By Colby Hamilton, WNYC/The Empire) “The basic problem for most people who aren't committed to the existing candidates is a fear that they're all more left than what I think the city is or should be, and the fear that we might go back to the days of [former mayors John] Lindsay and [Abe] Beame and their predecessors with the city seeking to provide benefits that it's not capable of providing financially,” Koch said. “We're fearful--people like myself--that municipal unions will come back into power.”…. Koch said he believes next year’s election will come down to a runoff between Quinn and former city comptroller Bill Thompson.
• Staten Island Sen. Savino endorsed by state Independence Party (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance) Also endorsed by the party were Ms. Savino's fellow members of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference (IDC): Sens. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), David Valesky (D-Oneida) and David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Orange).
• IDC loves gets Indies, loves Morse, mocks Dems (by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau, Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential) And both Klein and Savino reacted with some schadenfreude at news of a leadership struggle in the Democratic conference, which they left behind.
• Queens GOP endorsement sets the stage for rare Republican primary - Forest Hills lawyer Juan Reyes and Councilman Eric Ulrich set to face off (By Lisa L. Colangelo / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) But the Queens Republican Party helped set that in motion last week when it announced the endorsement of Forest Hills lawyer Juan Reyes for the 15th District seat in the state Senate. Republican City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who has been at odds with the county GOP leadership, announced last month he was running to capture the seat currently held by Democratic state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. Queens GOP leaders had been eyeing Reyes for some time, while Ulrich decided whether or not to run.

Hankster News of the Day May 10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Millions of Voters Leaving Political Parties, the Silent Revolution (by Chad Peace, IVN) I am not suggesting that political parties should not and do not serve an important roll in organizing, promoting, unifying political sentiment.  Rather, my position is that control over the electoral process should derive from the wills of individual voters, not party central committees.  In other words, I am suggesting that parties should be able to influence outcomes through advocacy rather than manipulation…. But, as the American voters become increasingly dissatisfied with their partisan representatives, non-partisan electoral reforms passed in states like California have the potential to revolutionize the way we elect our representatives and broadened the voters to whom they are accountable.
• President Obama’s independent problem is nothing new. (Posted by Chris Cillizza, Washington Post/The Fix)
• Battleground Poll: Dead heat (By: James Hohmann, Politico) The former Massachusetts governor has opened up a 10-point lead, 48 percent to 38 percent, among independents in a poll conducted Sunday, April 29 through Thursday, May 3 and a 6-point lead among those who describe themselves as “extremely likely” to vote in November. Obama led Romney by 9 points overall in POLITICO’s February’s poll.
• Beltway Blog — Study: Colorado grows independent voters, Democrats, GOP struggle to keep up (By Allison Sherry, The Denver Post/The Spot) Since 2008, Colorado has added voters in all groups becauses the state’s population is growing. But Democrats have added the fewest voters at 13,497, according to the study. Republicans have added 36,896 voters since 2008. There are more than 130,000 more independent voters now in Colorado compared to 2008, according to the study.

AZ TOP TWO

• Push is on for open primary in Arizona (by Dan Nowicki, Arizona Republic/TUCSON CITIZEN) The pros and cons of the “top two” primary idea, which is in use in Louisiana and Washington and will go into effect in California this year, will be debated today during a panel discussion organized by the O’Connor House. The organization, named after retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s former home, advocates for centrist and nonpartisan policy solutions and civil discourse.
• Open primaries worth a look (OPINION Arizona Republic) The discussion includes film producer and California politician Steve Peace, the architect of that state's top-two primary system. Also on the panel will be Richard Winger of the Coalition on Free and Open Elections, Grady Gammage, Jr., one of the authors of the Arizona initiative, and Alan Maguire of the Maguire political consulting firm. A new paper, "The Nonpartisan Primary: Is it a Game Changer?" by Morrison Institute Senior Fellow David R. Berman, will be distributed.

CA TOP TWO

• Commentary: ‘Top-two’ system makes primary a whole new ballgame (By Casey Gudel, AgAlert - Weekly Newspaper for Calif Agriculture) A number of candidates, who would have been receptive to issues important to family farmers and ranchers, lost by just a few votes in the last primary election. Had the top-two primary system been in place, Farm Bureau and allied organizations could have worked on behalf of those business-friendly candidates in the general election. When you combine the new top-two primary system with changes to legislative districts as drawn by the Citizen's Redistricting Commission, you find no shortage of candidates this year. Redistricting caused a number of retirements in Congress, which opened up a game of musical chairs that also involves seats in the state Assembly and Senate.
• Everybody in the Pool! (By Loretta Redd, PhD, Santa Barbara View) Anyone who doesn’t think we’ve legalized dope in this State has only to read the helpful voter guide from Secretary of State, Debra Bowen: “California law requires that the term ‘party preference’ now be used in place of the term ‘party affiliation.’  On the voter registration form, a voter may choose whether or not to indicate a preference for a political party.  A voter with no party preference (NPP) is anyone who chose to not indicate a political party preference when he or she registered to vote.  Voters who were previously known as decline-to-state voters (because they did not have a party affiliation) are now known as having no party preference.”

2012
Obama leads Romney, helped by independents (Deborah Charles - Reuters, Chicago Tribune) Independents swung behind Obama. Forty eight percent approved and 40 percent disapproved of his performance in May compared to 37 percent who approved and 57 percent who disapproved in April…. The poll, conducted from May 3-7, showed voters from the two parties are falling in behind their candidates, which makes the independent vote more important, Clark said.

INDIANA CONGRESSIONAL RACE

• Tea party set to topple Sen. Richard Lugar. Could he try third-party run? (By Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor) "I don't think that Lugar would want to split the party," says Brian Vargus, a political scientist at Indiana University in Indianapolis. "The coalition between social and economic Lugar makes last-ditch Election Day plea for votes, rules out third-party run (By Justin Sink, WITH VIDEO, The Hill) Indiana has an open primary, meaning anyone registered to vote can cast a ballot in Tuesday's Republican contest. And while Lugar remains popular statewide, the 80-year-old senator acknowledged that the money and enthusiasm had tended to favor his opponent… But Lugar deferred when asked if centrists no longer had a home in the Republican Party.
• Lugar unloads on 'unrelenting' partisanship (By MIKE ZAPLER, Politico) Too often bipartisanship is equated with centrism or deal cutting. Bipartisanship is not the opposite of principle. One can be very conservative or very liberal and still have a bipartisan mindset. Such a mindset acknowledges that the other party is also patriotic and may have some good ideas. It acknowledges that national unity is important, and that aggressive partisanship deepens cynicism, sharpens political vendettas, and depletes the national reserve of good will that is critical to our survival in hard times.

THIRD PARTY POLITICS

• Out of the Margins, Into the Fray: Vermont Progressive Party Wields Outsized Influence on State Politics (by Steve Early‚ Beyond Chron) In many other states, most labor activists like David-Friedman have shied away from "pure" third party activity because they don't want to back political "spoilers" or, short of that, just mount losing campaigns with no impact on major party behavior or election results. Elsewhere in the northeast, labor-financed Working Families Parties (WFP) were launched instead so "fusion voting" could be used, where permitted under state law, to reward the friends of union causes by giving cross-endorsed candidates an additional ballot line. Banned in most of the nation a century ago (as part of the corporate counter-attack against Populism), fusion allows major party candidates, in states like New York, to garner additional votes on each endorsing minor party's separate ballot line.
• ROSE NOLEN: Electoral process, political parties have left voters confused (BY Rose Nolen, Columbia Missourian) The efforts by some political parties to pass voter registration laws, which will require some people to provide various forms of personal identification in order to vote, is troublesome and will undoubtedly cause some to avoid going to the polls. It has occurred to many that the political parties no longer want individual citizens to vote, unless they are willing to vote their way. Until we have an independent authority to interpret law, we are without recourse. The political parties are completely out of hand. It seems to be impossible to establish a third party, although Ron Paul seems to be on a good road toward accomplishing that goal.

NYC MAYORAL 2013

• NY1 Online: City Republican Chairmen Call For Candidates In 2013 (NY1 By: Inside City Hall)
• Don’t run for mayor, Ray - A plea to the top cop to stay out of politics (By George Marlin / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) You have moral authority…  Running for mayor means stepping down from this well-earned perch. It means making public pronouncements on every conceivable issue from trans fats to transgender rights to the Department of Transportation’s bike lanes.
• Quinn Says Next Mayor Would Be ‘Lucky’ To Have Kelly Stay As Commish - Ray Kelly Continues To Maintain That He's 'Not Running For Anything' (CBS LOCAL) For his part, a clearly irritated Kelly was asked if he was running for mayor and if he could work for Quinn.

EDUCATION REFORM
Education reform bill heads to Malloy (Linda Conner Lambeck, CTPost) The reform bill went through several rewrites over the past three months and set the Democratic governor at odds with teachers across the state because of its efforts to reform teacher tenure. In the end, however, teachers say they got a lot of what they want in the compromise package and Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor said he got a reform package that will improve education for children and strengthen the state's bid to win a federal waiver of the No Child Left Behind law.

LAST WORD
Americans Elect Sputters in Effort to Field Nominee (By Alexis Simendinger, RealClearPolitics) The struggles of Americans Elect have not come as a huge surprise to the media or the political cognoscenti, even among those rooting for anything that might detox traditional party politics. In March, New York Times columnist Gail Collins described the group’s concept as “delusional, in a deeply flattering way: We the people are good and pure, and if only we were allowed to just pick the best person, everything else would fall into place. And, of course, the best person cannot be the choice of one of the parties, since the parties are … the problem.”

Arizona Independents Advocate Top Two Open Primary System

Arizona Independents eyeing Open Elections/Open Government Act (by Damon Eris, IVN) “We’re actually projecting that independents will outnumber both Republicans and Democrats [in Arizona] by November,” said Ted Downing of Independent Voting in a recent report for KTAR news.

Read more about Arizona Open Elections/Open Government here: Open Elections/Open Government
will fundamentally change and reform our election process by implementing an open primary system where the top two vote getters, regardless of political party, will advance to a run-off election.

This will encourage more qualified and independent-minded candidates to seek elected office – candidates guided by common sense instead of extreme ideology from either side of the political spectrum. Even more important, Open Elections/Open Government will open our election process up to more VOTERS.