West Virginia: How independent are you?

West Virginia's Democratic primary was open to independent voters for the first time, and election officials were expecting a strong turnout. More than 76,000 West Virginians cast ballots during an early voting period that ran from April 23 to May 10, easily surpassing the previous record of 27,000 early ballots set in 2004. More than 70 percent of those ballots were cast in the Democratic primary, officials reported. (Free Internet Press)



More than half of registered voters in the state are Democrats, under 30 percent Republican, but more than 14 percent are registered independent according to Secretary of State Betty Ireland. (WVNS-TV Beckley, Bluefield and Lewisville)



Independent voters just need to request a Democratic or Republican ballot at the appropriate polling place. ( WOWK-TV Charleston and Huntington)

She's too much of a centrist

"I think [Hillary is] just more of the same. She's too much of a centrist," she said. "I just want to be with someone whose vision I can embrace. And both she and Bill have showed me who they really are, and it makes me not want to support them." (Detroit Free Press)

CONTEXTS, NORMALCY AND THE WRIGHT STUFF

Sunday, April 27, 2008
Below are excerpts from this week's Talk Talk, CONTEXTS, NORMALCY AND THE WRIGHT STUFF. Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, April 27, 2008 after watching "The Chris Matthews Show" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

Newman: I haven't seen any polls recently, but the last ones I did see, they were both unpopular. The Republicans were slightly more unpopular than the Democrats. I think that's probably holding up throughout all of this. Pardon me if I make a philosophical point, but things matter contextually, not as things in themselves. Most things matter contextually. So when you change the context, what matters is going to change. This is where we are right now and so things matter in the way they do relative to the context we're in right now.

Salit: Yes.

Newman: When we change the context, what matters is going to change. And it can change on a dime. On a dime. The biggest thing to say about Pennsylvania is that through all of this hullabaloo, nothing much changed. Hillary was expected to win. And she did. She was expected to win by between six and ten points and she did. It was a state, in some ways, made for her. Then all these things happened and people say 'Oh it was this that caused it, or this that caused it.' And no doubt, these things played a role. But it wasn't as if there was this shift so large that they have to explain it - it was about the expectation. And that's been true for most of the primary, even through all of the hullabaloo about it. The most unexpected thing that happened through this whole Democratic primary was Iowa.

Continue reading here

Pennsylvania: The Morning After

The Low Road to Victory: The New York Times had some choice words today about yesterday's Pennsylvania Democratic Primary. Hillary began "Tuesday morning by declaring in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.” ....

From Maureen Dowd's column this morning: “The time has come. The time has come. The time is now. Just go. ... I don’t care how. You can go by foot. You can go by cow. Hillary R. Clinton, will you please go now! You can go on skates. You can go on skis. ... You can go in an old blue shoe.
Just go, go, GO!”

From Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report: "She wins by 9.4% -- a number Clinton supporters round up to call it a double-digit win, and Obama supporters round down for the opposite reason...."

From Elrod on The Moderate Voice: "I’m just annoyed that the race is continuing on in the same fashion as before: no momentum, no game changers, no resolution."


My 2 cents: I know a lot of Obama supporters would like to see Hillary drop out of the race, and I'm no fan of the Clinton Machine. But I do think the more people throughout the country who are engaged by this primary, the more independents who go to the polls and try to vote even when they're not allowed to, the better off the country is. After all, it's not just about this primary. It's not about saving the Democratic Party from itself. It's about what kind of nation we're going to be. This primary is as good a time as any to begin to decide that. There are still lots of ordinary people who want to weigh in on this!


Still crazy:
And here's one more thought --- several mornings after: The Accidental Rebel by Paul Auster: By the night of April 30, the Columbia administration had had enough, and the police were called in. A bloody riot ensued. Along with more than 700 other people, I was arrested — pulled by my hair to the police van by one officer as another officer stomped on my hand with his boot. But no regrets. I was proud to have done my bit for the cause. Both crazy and proud. What did we accomplish? Not much of anything. It’s true that the gymnasium project was scrapped, but the real issue was Vietnam, and the war dragged on for seven more horrible years. You can’t change government policy by attacking a private institution.....

Pennsylvania primary: Barack and Hillary at High Noon

About 4 million Democrats were eligible to vote in their party's closed primary. (Washington Post)

Turnout at the Pennsylvania polls is "sky-high, much greater than usual" as voters in the Keystone State cast ballots in today's closed watched presidential primary. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"So, former President Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he is suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it," Obama said laughing, "Ok, well, you better ask him what he meant by that. I have no idea what he meant. These are words that came out of his mouth, not out of mine." (ABC Political Radar blog)


Obama memo: "Behind in delegates and sporting a 14-30 primary record (not good enough even to make the playoffs in the NBA Eastern Conference), the Clinton campaign needs a blowout victory in Pennsylvania to get any closer to winning the nomination," the memo asserts. (Boston Globe Political Intelligence)

Pennsylvania Polls: Obama catches up to Hillary

From Poll Tracker at CQ Politics: Seven More Pa. Polls: Clinton's Margins are 10, 7, 6, 5 and 3

Live-blogging CNN and msnbc coverage of Super Tuesday II for independent voters

Hi everyone. I'll be live-blogging the coverage tonight of the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. All four primaries are "open primaries" and allow independent voters to have a say. I'm mostly watching CNN and MSNBC commentary. I'm watching for how independent voters are impacting and how the media is relating to us.

The most current post will be at the top of the blog, so you'll have to scroll down to see what I said earlier in the evening.... (It's a blog thing.....) Thanks for tuning in!
The Hankster (Call me Nancy)

9:07pm: Texas Two-Step still in motion.... more party party talk.... Now 59% Clinton in Ohio, 56% Obama in Texas.... So the pundits are talking about what that means, the endlessness of this campaign bec. Hillary intends to go on.... the superdelegates.... the convention.... etc. etc. etc.

It's clear that there will be no clear outcome tonight.

9:00pm: Texas is too close to call, as is Rhode Island, as is Ohio, with Hillary ahead but with little results in... Vermont called for Obama....

8:53pm: Well, I have to say, the results from Super Tuesday in February, and the other primaries have been called really early. Not so this Super Tuesday II. The pundits are yacking... The pundits are endlessly facinating to themselves...

Texas totals now show a closer Obama/Hillary outcome: 55/43..

8:28pm: Texas -- Suzanne Malveauex is reporting from the floor of a Texas caucus where voters are gathering after voting in the primary... The lines in Texas are phenomenal... A long night.... Clinton is winning the Ohio primary by 62% to Obama's 36%.... What's happening in Ohio?

As Wolf Blitzer reminds us, you can to to CNN.com and get all this info! Good idea!

As well, go to msnbc to get voting results....

8:22pm: It appear that Barack Obama will win the Texas primary (though the networks have not called it!). This could change throughout the night, however, The Hankster is calling Texas for Obama. (Oh, I just bought The Man's game... ooops!)

8:14PM: Texas Obama 60%, Clinton 39% with one percent of the vote in.

8:10:pm: Obama seems to have a good lead in Texas with 61% to Clinton's 39%... INDEPENDENTS NO DOUBT MAKE A DIFFERENCE...

8:01pm: Ohio projections 42% for Obama and 56% for Hillary, very very early, not an indication... Here is the ABC News article.

Campbell Brown at CNN: Gloria Borger, pivot, no the people need to decide....

Obama is holding at 60% in Vermont; in Ohio, Clinton has 56% and Obama has 42%

Donna Brazille is talking about superdelegates needing to commit...

7:53pm: Here's what Wonkette is saying, who is also live-blogging this event. She's a clever one.... And just to back the whole thing up is Marc Ambinder.... Hmmm.... I getting the feeling that this has now become a desperate intra-partisan fight. Fortunately the voters in Ohio and Texas (and Rhode Island) will have a voice. Independent voters are still voting. Texans are going to the caucuses... Life is good!

7:49pm: 22% independents aligning with Hillary (Chris Matthews)

7:42pm: Ron Paul has 4% of the Vermont vote, which has been concluded by the media... msnbc is running polls as if it's news.... did the 3 am ad have an impact? Obama is seen as having a lower negative impact index than Hillary.... hmmmm.... huh????

7:39pm: Ok, we're back -- if you haven't already, please check out Linda Curtis of Independent Texans on this pro-Obama video. Good luck to you guys in Texas!!

7:24pm: Well, CNN and msnbc are really chompin' at the bit, but cannot make predictions bec. it's such a close race, but here's something from KXMC North Dakota: Early exit polls show independents are a big chunk of the electorate in today's presidential primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. Surveys find that self-described independents were about one in five voters in Ohio's Democratic primary, one in four in Texas, a third in Rhode Island and four in 10 in Vermont. Thanks, KXMC!

7:10pm: msnbc with Joe Scarborough has Eugene Robinson, Pat Buchanan, and a woman I'm not familiar with....

Ok, here's some kind of exit poll from Vermont: 74% of anti-war vote went to Obama...

On CNN, The Map! where we've come to expect John King drawing on a map and showing us all kinds of demographic information... Everyone wants to talk about what will happen if Hillary, if Democrats, if Obama... Pennsylvania will also be critical for working people's vote....

Polls will remain open in Sandusky County OHIO until 9pm because of bad weather.

7:03pm: Polls close in Ohio at 7:30pm. CNN is doing a sort of man-on-the-street exit poll, but they're not showing us anything yet...

Back to msnbc -- Hillary didn't expect to win Vermont -- they're too liberal up there, too many anti-war votes.... (this is being reported by Andrea Mitchell in the field and Keith Olberman in the office)

Chris Matthews on the spot with more speculation on Hillary in Texas and Ohio....

7:00pm: msnbc just announced Obama as winner in Vermont; McCain in the Repub contest...

6:51pm: John Kerry, the last Dem presidential candidate is on MSNBC repsponding to the attacks on Obama about his "lack" of experience vs. Hillary's ... ummm... experience....

At this moment, we're looking for people to talk about the insider/outsider dynamic. Kerry is talking about Obama's ability to win delegates.

There's also the issue of spin -- Joe Scarborough (of Morning Joe) is posing the question of at what point does Hillary get out of the race. Pat Buchanan thinks Hillary should keep going. He says the superdelegates will freeze if Hillary wins Ohio and Texas....

6:31pm: Michelle Bernard, a black conservative and president of the Washington, DC-based Independent Women’s Voice, is a John McCain supporter, saying that McCain doesn't mean that we will be at war in Iraq for 100 years....

[Incidentally, many independent voters are Ron Paul supporters. Independent Texans endorsed Ron Paul in the Repub primary there. There's almost no media coverage, and certainly no MSM coverage of Ron Paul's campaign, which has been an outspoken anti-war campaign and deserves more attention.]

6:22pm: Fortunately there are a lot of commercial breaks, so just as in sports, we have a chance to get a snack, go to the bathroom, call a friend, etc. Come to think of it, politics IS a sport.

CNN -- Wolf Blitzer is already getting exit poll results.... Huh? Do they know something we don't know???
MSNBC is parsing the Obama/Clinton contest over and over, but I can't tear myself away.... Chris Matthews is holding forth. Lots of in-depth reporting with black leaders..... Oooops they also have exit polling....






6:20pm
AT THE GATE:
Texas has nonpartisan registration so everyone votes for whoever they want to and Democrats have early voting (people have voted for the past 30 days in droves!) and will also hold caucuses tonight which will be worth a third of the vote. So if you voted in the Dem primary, be sure to go to your local caucus to make your vote worth more.... (Independent voters in Texas should call Linda Curtis for help at (512) 535-0989.)

Ohio independent voters need to ASK for a party ballot to vote for presidential candidates. If you want to vote for Barack Obama, you will need to ask for a Democratic Party ballot.

Ohio Primary: I'm an independent. Can I vote?

Answer: YES WE CAN
I called the Board of Elections in Cleveland today and asked if I could vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary and the person who answered the phone said yes.

Good luck to independent voters in Ohio on March 4.....


Still watching CNN The Situation Room:
This just in, SEIU, the large service union holding contracts for hotel workers (150K workers in upcoming primaries....)

John Lewis is making a difficult decision....

Obama is making NAFTA an issue in Ohio -- a pro-union state...

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

HANKSTER LEDE: An Independent Shut Out Of A Defining Choice (Hartford Courant)

MARYLAND: Confusion, bad weather and late starts plague primary voting (Business Gazette MD) independents show up to vote, turned away

LOUISIANA: Congressional Elections, Barack Obama (BayouBuzz) March 8 Dem primary open to independents

POLLS: Some Reflections on Polling in the Primaries (RealClearPolitics HorseRaceBlog)

THE CAMPAIGN: Clinton seeks swift reply to Obama onslaught (AP) * Campaign Trail Leads To Texas, Wisconsin (CBS) * After Potomac Sweep, Can Obama’s Momentum Be Stopped? Clinton’s Determined to Try (By: Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com, and Associated Press) * Is It Too Late for Hillary? (Time Magazine)

WASHINGTON: Basking in Obama's glow (Joni Balter, Seattle Times)

OHIO: All eyes on Ohio (By STEPHEN ORAVECZ Tribune Chronicle) Obama has drawn a lot of independent voters, but they may be closed out in Ohio’s closed primary.

PENNSYLVANIA: 93,000 independents may not know they can't vote April 22 (Philadelphia Daily News)

SUPERDELEGATES: Democratic Super Delegates Guided By Voters, Not Backroom Deals (Bloomberg) * The Role of the Superdelegates: Could They Thwart the Choice of a Majority of Democratic Primary Voters? (By EDWARD LAZARUS, FindLaw)

REPUBS/CONSERVATIVES: Gingrich: There’s No Reason For Voters To Keep Republicans In Power (News Hounds)

Barack Obama/John McCain live-blogged from Madison WI, 2.12.08

Barack Obama is speaking tonight from Madison Wisconsin. It is a speech that might turn the page. "The American people must be enlisted in the process. What hope is, the moment when we join arms, to build, this is the moment. This is our time. A century ago, when the progressive movement was born (in Wisconsin). When the voices of the people spoke louder than the voices of the special interests... It's the same message when we were up, when we were down, our dreams will not be deferred." -Barack Obama, blogged lived....

Now John McCain speech. Hope my friends is a powerful thing.... It's a platitude... A challenge: I discovered that I was independent and that discovery made all the difference in the world. Srtong and capable defense, advance America's economy, he's ready and fired up..... from Alexandria, VA...

Chris Matthews and Barack Obama takes the cultural/emotional stage. We think we have a leader....

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Every day, The Hankster runs at least one post called "TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS", a comprehensive aggregated source for news articles from around the country for independent voters, about independent voters.

Super Tuesday is upon us and independents are key. Most states with primaries or caucases on Feb. 5 have "open primaries" in which independent voters will be able to choose their ballot. Below is a selection of articles that talk about independents and the weight they carry for the 2008 presidential election:

HANKSTER LEDE

• How to Vote in the CALIFORNIA Democratic Primary for President as an Independent or a Democrat (By Frank D. Russo, California Progress Report) INDEPENDENTS have to ASK for a Dem ballot.
  

CONNECTICUT

• Not to late to register (Stamford Advocate)

OREGON

• Spreading the candidate love (Kate Riley, Seattle Times) -- "In N.H. the independents can immediately fill out a card, the gist of which essentially allows them to claim temporary insanity and return to undeclared status. Now that's my kind of primary."

NEW JERSEY

• Hamilton Twp. embodies spirit of independence (Hamilton Twp. Courier Post)

ARIZONA

• Tuesday’s Arizona voters face lengthy lists (East Valley Tribune) State elections officials and Arizona Republican and Democratic party executives had thought — perhaps “hoped” would be a better word — thousands of independent voters would re-register into one of the major parties to participate in the presidential preference election, but that largely failed to happen. Only 1 percent of the state’s independent voters made the change in time to vote.

CALIFORNIA

• California Offers a Look Into Future of Politics/Increasingly Influenced by Independents, Hispanics (By JONATHAN KAUFMAN and JIM CARLTON, Wall Street Journal) Since the 2000 presidential election, the number of voters registered as Democrats or Republicans in California has fallen by 800,000, while the "decline to state," or independent, rolls have grown by 700,000.
• California Republicans Limit Their Primary To Those Registered in Party (by FOXNews.com)

BLOOMBERG

• McCain may have foiled Bloomberg's aspirations (Denver Post)

POLLS

• CBS Poll: Clinton, Obama Tied (CBS News)
• No Third Term For Bill (Power Line)
• Fewer Want Bill Clinton Back in the White House (The Caucus NY Times)
• Obama surges close to Clinton in Calif., McCain still leads (AP/Southern California News PE.com)

BACKSTAGE

• Sex, Race and Presidential Politics (Huffington Post)

Nancy Hanks, a 30-year independent grassroots activist based in New York City, has been building The Hankster since April 2006. The Hankster is America's leading non-partisan, non-centrist independent blog.

How will New Hampshire independents vote tomorrow?

CBS poll says: Obama also leads Clinton 41 percent to 24 percent among independent voters who the survey said would make up more than one-third of tomorrow's Democratic primary voters. (Cleveland Plain Dealer Politics Blog)