TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Important independent voters share common goals for U.S. (The Tennessean) Who are the independents? One of them is writer Marcia Ford, and she'll tell you: "Ideologically, we run the gamut from right-wing fundies to radical lefties, from pro-abortion conservatives to anti-gay-marriage liberals, from embarrassed ex-Republicans to disillusioned ex-Democrats, from Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical Christians to religious and secular Jews to Buddhists and the ever popular 'highly spiritual' types.''
• NC: Voter registration ending Friday (St. Paul's Review The Robesonian) There are 52,809 registered Democrats in Robeson County, 7,511 Republicans, and 8,707 Unaffiliated (Independent) voters registered in Robeson.
• NC: Unaffiliated voters flood election rolls (Watauga Democrat) In September, 3,484 people registered in Watauga County and nearly half, or 1,588, were unaffiliated — compared to 891 Democrats, 992 Republicans and 13 Libertarians.

OREGON OPEN PRIMARY Measure 65

• Measure 65, ending partisan primaries in Oregon, raises lots of questions (The Oregonian) The open primary system "lets everybody vote for the best candidate."
• Gronke, Kiesling square off in Measure 65 debate (Politicker OR)
• Dancer would make office nonpartisan- Secretary of state candidate spoke at Linn Republican Women luncheon (Albany Democrat-Herald)

CAMPAIGN

• FOX NEWS POLL: OBAMA 46, McCAIN 39 (FOXNews) Independents split their vote 34 percent Obama and 32 percent McCain, with 24 percent unsure.
• 10/10/08 FOX News Poll: The Candidates and Character (FOXNews) among the critical bloc of independent voters, more think Obama puts his campaign first (44 percent) rather than his country (41 percent). Independents have no such qualms about McCain — 55 percent think he puts country over campaign.

NEW YORK POLITICS/INDEPENDENCE PARTY

• Democrats Are Gaining in State, Registration Data Shows (NY Times) Republican officials said that they were used to running — and winning — in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, and played down the significance of the enrollment trends. Voters, they said, would choose the candidate, not the party, and were attuned to the Republican message of lower taxes and balanced government. Moreover, all of the Republican candidates in close Senate races have been cross-endorsed by New York’s Independence Party, which has seen significant growth in recent years.
• Mayor Plans an $80 Million Campaign (NY Times)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• NORTH CAROLINA: Allen Johnson: Why, 24 years later, I remain a man without a party — and why I like it that way (Greensboro News Record) NOTE: Read this!!
• WEST VIRGINIA: Clinton, Obama campaigns dissecting state voters (Times West Virginian) The trend of more women than men voters holds up among those registered as belonging to “No Party,” or independents. Women make up 77,089 to 67,290 men in that category. But in the 50 and older group, men outnumber women among independents, 16,098 to 14,847.
• OREGON: Valuing 'independent' participation (The Oregonian-Phil Kiesling) Why have the Oregon Democratic and Republican parties chosen not to allow independents to participate? FLORIDA: Can the GOP police itself? (Middletown Journal - FL) Weber said he would be best suited to hold other Republicans accountable because of his background as an independent. Weber ran for the position in 2002 as an independent and lost; he ran in 2006 as a Republican but dropped out after Reynolds won the party endorsement.
• WEST VIRGINIA: Independents Can Vote in W.Va. Primary (The Intelligencer/Wheeling News Register) While the state’s Independents have been able to vote in Republican primaries for six years, 2008 will mark the first time they will be able to mark a Democratic ballot as that party has opened up its primary to Independents for the first time.
• WEST VIRGINIA: Independents likely to have impact on upcoming primaries (The Herald-Dispatch) In 1984, only 2 percent of West Virginia's voters, or 20,559 people, were registered with no party affiliation. Since then, independent voter registration has increased yearly to an all-time high in the 2006 general election of 11.7 percent, or 133,555, of the voting public.
• Barack Obama, Federalism, and a Winning Coalition (Yossef Ben-Meir, American Chronicle) By presenting community organizing as a federalist process, the campaign will attract those Republicans and Independents who are disaffected by the Iraq war, but who would otherwise still support John McCain.
• FLORIDA: Crist makes pitch for new Rays' stadium (tampabay.com/St. Petersburg Times) State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg and State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, have filed bills (HB 1189 and SB 2726) to open Florida's primaries and let unaffiliated voters weigh in on the presidential choices.
• War-Weary Pa. Voters Wonder About Exit (AP-Google)

POLLS Rasmussen presidential tracking poll gives edge to McCain (Marketwatch) McCain now leads both Democrats among unaffiliated voters

FEATURE Evangelicals' new face (Baltimore Sun) If you think that evangelical Christians vote automatically for the Republican Party and are obsessed with abortion and gay marriage to the exclusion of other issues, you haven't been paying attention.