INDEPENDENT VOTER EXTRA: Revolution Breaks Out in Colorado!

Not since the Western Federation of Miners has there been such an outbreak of spirited independence as what we are witnessing now in Colorado. Today's backdrop is an increasingly anti-partisan and independent electorate, a stupidly partisan Congress and a beloved President who can't seem to win for losing (his Party loyalty straining credibility on all fronts....); today's battle cries are "Open Primaries!" "Non-Partisan Elections!" "An Independent on the Federal Elections Commission!"

I hope you enjoy this lively round-up.

Wishing all of you the best (independent of course) New Year ever!

--Nancy

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Give Independents a Voice (LETTER NY Times) from Jackie Salit and Harry Kresky
• Five steps to recovery for Dems (By: Steve Rosenthal, Politico) Now, take a few moments and listen to candidate Obama's stump speeches from 2008 to remind you what attracted millions of new voters, including Independents, to the Democratic Party.
• The end of the Democratic Party (Joseph Farrah, World Net Daily/Between the Lines)
• Democrats Do Not Need to Become More "Moderate" to Win in 2010 - Four Rules for Victory in November (Robert Creamer, Huffington Post)
• With new priorities, Obama and Democrats can recover in 2010 (By Dan Balz, Washington Post)
• The Obama Way (By ROSS DOUTHAT, NY Times) He’s a bipartisan bridge-builder — unless he’s a polarizing ideologue. He’s a crypto-Marxist radical — except when he’s a pawn of corporate interests. He’s a post-American utopian — or else he’s a willing tool of the national security state.
• Poll: More Americans prefer Democratic policies (CNN) "But independents will be the key to the midterms, and the numbers among independents spell bad news for both parties among that important group."

OPEN PRIMARIES

• GOP’s closed-primary plan may violate R.I, not US law (By Eric Tucker, Associated Press, Boston Globe)
• Mollis, GOP at odds over closed primaries (By JIM BARON, Woonsocket Call)
• Closed Rhode Island Republican primary could run afoul of state law (By Associated Press, Boston Herald)
• RI Republicans may try to close primary (By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press Writer, Nashua Telegraph) The party’s executive committee will consider the plan Jan. 5.
• RI Republican Party May Open Primary to GOPers Only (Chris Boardman, ABC 6 RI)
• LETTER: The Politics of Research--Are open primaries and less gerrymandering the route to evidence-based government? (Miller McCune)
• California Ballot from June 1998 Illustrates a Difficulty with the “Top-Two Open Primary” Measure (Ballot Access News)
• Where’s the Center? More on Polarization and the Parties (by Ed Kilgore, Progressive Fix) Though I favor open (or at least more open) primaries as a general proposition, the idea that this would have an immediate impact on polarization isn’t terribly compelling. It’s a subject that is complicated by definitions: some states with “closed” primaries allow very late changes in party registration, even on Election Day, which certainly gives independents every opportunity to participate.... And remember, too, that registered “independents” are not always “centrists.” [Amen, brother! -NH] NOTE: ProgressiveFix.com is the new face of the Progressive Policy Institute, the main purveyor of policy innovations to Bill Clinton’s New Democrats... 
• Richard Winger: Open primary won't live up to hype (The Record Searchlight/Redding.com)
• California Author of “Top-Two Open Primary” Sets Up Organization to Campaign for His Measure (Ballot Access News)

COLORADO

• Unaffiliated candidate's lengthy waiting period "not fair" (By Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)
• Curry shifts from Dems, moves to unaffiliated--Plans to focus on constituents, not party politics (Gunnison Country Times Staff Writer)
• Colorado Rep. Kathleen Curry changes from Democrat to unaffiliated (By Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post) Also on HUFFINGTON POST
• Legislator: 'I don't fit' with Dems--Pressure over votes led to her switch in affiliation (By CHARLES ASHBY/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel)
• An independent mind (By The Daily Sentinel)
• State Rep. Kathleen Curry switches party affiliation (By KATIE REDDING, Colorado Independent)
• Curry’s Affiliation Switch Gets GOP’s Attention In Garfield County (By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO)
• Pre-Session Surprise: Curry’s Party Switch Costs Her Leadership Positions (STATE BILL COLORADO)
• Curry is an independent thinker-District 61 representative switches from Democrat to unaffiliated, saying ‘I just don't fit into either party' (John Colson, Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado)
• Colorado House #2 leader quits Democratic party (Colorado Statehouse Examiner, Hank Lacey)
• La Plata Clerk Wants Federal-Court Ballot Lawsuit Thrown Out (Law Week Colorado)
• Durango, Colorado Newspaper Story on Lawsuit Over Independent Candidate Ballot Restriction (Ballot Access News)
• Clerk wants ballot lawsuit thrown out--County Commissioner Joelle Riddle: Rule unfair to unaffiliated candidates (by Dale Rodebaugh, Durango Herald Staff Writer)

NON-PARTISAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

• NYS Needs Nonpartisan Municipal Elections--Bloomberg Speechwriter in Exclusive Empire Page Interview (by PoliticalNewsToday.com)
• Interview with author Francis S. Barry (The Empire Page) I wrote the book in hopes that it would lead people to step back and re-consider election reforms generally, and one reform in particular: nonpartisan elections. 
• Currie eyes nonpartisan election bill (By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER, Brookhaven MS)

KENTUCKY

• Deadline for voters to switch parties is this week (By MELINDA CHARLES, Maysville Ledger Independent) Voters who are already registered in Kentucky have until Dec. 31 to change their political affiliation, according to a release from office of Secretary of State Trey Grayson. The deadline also affects candidates who wish to switch political party affiliation and run in their new party's primary election, or those seeking ballot access as an independent, the release said.
• Independent Kentucky Chairman Michael P.W. Lewis was a special guest on "My View Matters" Radio show on December 17th. If you happened to miss it, you can listen to it on Ed Springston's Blog.

REDISTRICTING

• Independent Commissions: Why don't all states use a non-partisan panel to decide on re-districting. (The Live Fix, Chris Cillizza, Washington Post)

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

• Ethics watchdogs give Obama high marks (UPI.com)
• CREW Unveils Its List of Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2009 (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) - press release in Earth Times.org) Violations of federal campaign finance law are going unpunished as a result of a gridlocked and toothless Federal Election Commission
• Top 10 ethics scandals of 2009 (Part I) (Seattle Business Ethics Examiner, Jean-Pierre Ruiz)  What, the FEC Is Supposed to Enforce (Not Gut) Campaign Finance Laws?

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

• Decade Brought Change To Campaign Finance (by PETER OVERBY, NPR) Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith says that's it for public funding. "Participating in the public financing system is now considered the mark of an unserious candidate," he says.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS, OBAMA AND HEALTH CARE

• Like Mushrooms, Health Care 'Reform' Flourishes in the Dark - NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticizes the bill's lack of transparency. (By JOHN FUND, Wall Street Journal)
• In federal politics, a sharp move leftward (By: GARY WECKSELBLATT, Bucks County Courier Times)
• December 22, 2009 - U.S. Voters Oppose Health Care Plan By Wide Margin, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Say 3-1, Plan Should Not Pay For Abortions (Quinnipiac) Looking at the health care plan, independent voters "mostly disapprove" 58 - 30 percent, as do Republicans 83 - 10 percent. Democrats "mostly approve" 64 - 22 percent. 
• Obama gets lowest approval rating since taking office (NY Post)
• Daily Presidential Tracking Poll (Rasmussen Reports) Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Democrats approve while 88% of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters disapprove.

STATE RACES

• Lincoln Chafee Enters Rhode Island Gov's Race (CBS News/Political Hotsheet) as an independent 
• Senate hopefuls pull no punches in TV clash (By Matt Viser and Eric Moskowitz, Boston Globe) Kennedy, who is an active Libertarian running as an independent, demonstrated last night why Brown has sought to minimize him and Coakley has wanted him involved in the debates: He used nearly every speaking opportunity to challenge Brown from the right, saying the state senator has not done enough to cut spending, limit taxes, and make his voting record accessible.
• Gov. Deval Patrick reflects on his ‘mistake’--Says he ‘underutilized’ grassroots network once in office (By Hillary Chabot, Boston Herald)
• Independent Jana Kemp says she has signatures to make the 2010 gubernatorial ballot (By Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman)

Independent Voters: Health Care or Partisan Politics?

I have been an independent activist for many years, and I created what is now considered to be THE independent political blog, The Hankster, because I felt that independent voters were not being represented accurately -- or at all -- in the mainstream media.

There are lots and lots of polls out there mainly concerned about the critical independent vote in the upcoming mid-term elections. These polls are being interpreted by media outlets without comment and without input from "on-the-ground" independents. It's as if our national record of the Civil War ommited Matthew Brady's battlefield photos...

Personally, I think the story that Jackie outlines in this commentary below is a "sea-change" story that "big media" picked up on briefly in 2006 and again in 2008 (election fever) but is now somehow completely missing from today's analysis. More than 40% of the American electorate identify as independents. And that growth was produced in large part by the progressive wing of the independent movement. If you blink on this, you will miss the story.

Independents are vulnerable to being peeled away by the Republican right. The Pew Research Center reports that were the 2010 midterms to be held today, independents would lean towards Republicans by a 43 to 38 percent margin. But, the evolution of a 21st century independent movement is not that simple. First, the movement is very fluid and very new. Historical movements develop through twists and turns, not in a straight line. The far right has attempted to take over the independent movement before. In 1994, Newt Gingrich crafted the “Contract with America” to woo Perotistas back into the Republican tent. And in 2000, social conservative Pat Buchanan hijacked the Reform Party presidential nomination, though he was roundly repudiated by independents in the general election. [FULL PIECE BELOW]

Please feel free to use this article in any way you feel appropriate. And let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Nancy

SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK: THE INDEPENDENTS’ STORY

By: Jackie Salit

When we finally get far enough down the road on health care reform, it will become clear that a driving force in the intensity of the fight was a heart attack. Not the medical kind. The political kind.

Independents swung decisively to Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. And it is this shift by independents – who repositioned themselves from center-right to center-left – that gave the Republican right the political equivalent of cardiac arrest.

In 1992, 19 million independents voted for Ross Perot. In 2008, 19 million independents voted for Barack Obama. Over the span of 15 years, the largely white, center-right independent movement re-aligned itself with Black America and progressive-minded voters.

This did not happen out of the blue. It did not happen by magic. It happened because the progressive wing of the independent movement did the painstaking and often controversial work of bringing the Perot movement and the Fulani movement together at the grassroots. The Fulani movement refers to the country’s leading African American independent, Dr. Lenora Fulani, who exposed the black community to independent politics and introduced the independent movement to an alliance with Black America.

No doubt the dramatics that the right wing brought to the Town Hall meetings this summer were intended for the television cameras. But the organizers, strategists and radio personalities who orchestrated the theatrics had a particular audience in mind: Independents. If they could tarnish Obama’s image with indies, they could damage the black and independent alliance and re-establish the Republican Party as an influential force amongst independents. Some of that could be accomplished, they felt, by claiming Obama’s health plan would drive up the national debt – a concern that animated the early Perot movement. Some Republican strategists felt that if they simply branded Obama a socialist, it would scare independents away – not from the health care plan (everyone recognizes a plan of some kind will get passed) but away from the center-left coalition that elected him.

If indies are feeling somewhat disillusioned with President Obama over the health care reform fight, it has more to do with fears that he is being overly influenced by the partisans in Congress. Since independents voted for him to be a more independent president, it’s easy to see how some felt disappointed by his handling of the Republican onslaught. Obama’s independent appeal was based on his challenge to the prevailing culture of Clintonian opportunism in the Democratic Party and partisanship inside the Beltway. Put another way, the independent vote for Obama was an effort to define a new kind of progressivism, one that was not synonymous with Democratic Party control.

After years of hard work and organizing, independents have become a sought-after partner in American politics. They elected President Obama and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, arguably the country’s two most independent and pragmatically progressive elected officials. No wonder the Republican Party right wants a clawback.

Independents are vulnerable to being peeled away by the Republican right. The Pew Research Center reports that were the 2010 midterms to be held today, independents would lean towards Republicans by a 43 to 38 percent margin. But, the evolution of a 21st century independent movement is not that simple. First, the movement is very fluid and very new. Historical movements develop through twists and turns, not in a straight line. The far right has attempted to take over the independent movement before. In 1994, Newt Gingrich crafted the “Contract with America” to woo Perotistas back into the Republican tent. And in 2000, social conservative Pat Buchanan hijacked the Reform Party presidential nomination, though he was roundly repudiated by independents in the general election.

If Republicans are increasing their influence among independents, it’s also because the Democratic Party Left has not been a friend to the independent movement. Sure, Democrats were happy that indies broke for Obama. But they were disappointed that we didn’t become Democrats. They equate progressivism with being in the Democratic Party. But they’re wrong.

Neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party has been enthusiastic about the development of indies as a third force. For different reasons, surely. But they share a common goal: to maintain the primacy of two-value logic (where there is only one or the other, never neither) and make sure independents are passive companions. That’s one reason that the fight for open primaries – which allow independents to cast ballots in every round of voting – and the campaign to appoint independents to the Federal Election Commission are so important. Those fights are about our right to participate and our right to represent our interests in changing the political culture.

The independent movement went left in 2008, after many years of grassroots organizing to link it to progressive leadership. Now the right wants to peel it back. Obama, presumably, wants to hold on to the partnership, but must also privilege his own party, which turns independents off and makes them more susceptible to Republican attacks. Meanwhile, independents are working hard at the grassroots to hold our own.

Jackie Salit is the president of IndependentVoting.org and the campaign coordinator for Mike Bloomberg’s mayoral campaign on the Independence Party line.

ACTION ALERT: Tell the FEC to demand a fair debate process!

Ron Paul excluded from Fox Debate / Kucinich excluded from ABC debate

ABC News and FOX News are trying to narrow the field of presidential candidates Americans get to hear just as the first votes are being cast. Tell the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to ! Here's the story:

First, FOX News has invited the Republican candidates to participate in a forum on Sunday, January 6, 2 days before the New Hampshire primary. But they have excluded Ron Paul, who has been climbing in the polls, and has raised $19 million in the last three months -- more money than any other Republican candidate in the quarter. And he received 10% of the vote in Iowa!

Congressman Paul is the only Republican who has come out strongly against the Iraq war, and who has challenged many of George Bush's positions. The fundraising and poll numbers show Paul's positions are resonating with the American people. FOX has not publically released its criteria for including candidates in the forum, so we are left to infer the reasons behind their decision.

Second, ABC News and WMUR-TV are sponsoring Republican and Democratic debates on Saturday, January 5. This week they issued criteria for participation: a candidate has to either 1) place in the top 4 in Iowa; 2) poll at 5% in NH, or 3) poll at 5% nationally.

ABC is arbitrarily deciding who the American people hear from. Given the Iowa results, and that Dodd and Biden have dropped out of the race, this criteria only excludes Dennis Kucinich.

Let the people decide!

By law, the debate sponsors are supposed to issue pre-existing objective criteria for who gets to participate in the debates. FOX News has issued no criteria at all. ABC only issued their criteria on Tuesday, January 1, for a debate taking place on January 5.

It seems the criteria is being used to shape the results of the election.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Where is the FEC? It is the agency charged with enforcing the limited fairness protections that have been enacted in our election laws. Send the FEC General Counsel's office a letter or call to urge her to take action! The NH debates are critical, as they are just days before the first votes are cast in the nation. The FEC should demand that FOX and ABC include all ballot-qualified candidates in the debates.

FEC Contact info:
Thomasenia DuncanGeneral Counsel
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20436
tduncan@fec.gov
202-694-1650

Please copy The Hankster on your letters and let us know about your conversations. And if you have any thoughts or comments please give us a call, or send us a note. Thanks!