TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Do American Indians need their own party? (Grand Forks Herald) I smiled to myself when Giago wrote that we should be independent voters, because I always thought I was.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Milkovich bound for court Friday (Shreveport Times) At issue will be the lawsuit he filed Monday alleging independent voters were barred from voting in the Democratic primary held Oct. 4.
• Kurita's suit to restore win fails-Ruling rejects her as Dems' nominee (The Tennessean) The fight has brought new attention to the state's open primary system, which permits voters to cast a ballot in either party's primaries, and brought criticism on the Democratic Party for removing her nomination.
• Open Primaries: No Better the Second Time Around (Marc Abrams, Blue Oregon) Open primaries serve to increase the power of the moderate, muddled middle. They allow the GOP in Portland to swarm to the Democratic primary and nominate a bland moderate so that liberals lose clout in the legislature, and allow Democrats in some GOP seats to do the reverse. Now Phil, a card carrying DLC member, may like that. I don’t.
• Oregon Democratic, Republican parties oppose Measure 65 (The Oregonian) It's no surprise why party leaders are lined up against Measure 65. By definition, parties are partisan organizations, and Measure 65 is an assault on the partisan nature of elections.
• Third parties oppose state open primary measure (Coos Bay World Link) Nearly every political party in Oregon — the Independent and Working Families parties have taken no official stance — has panned Measure 65, which they worry could threaten their existence.

CAMPAIGN

• Poll: Obama now leads McCain 50% to 41% (Los Angeles Times) Obama improved sharply over the last month among independent voters, a much-desired bloc. McCain carried them by a 15-point margin in September; in this poll, Obama led by 5 points.
• LA Times/Bloomberg Poll (pdf) LA Times release with cross tabs
• Poll: Obama gaining among independents (Rocky Mountain News) "The key to winning elections in Colorado is independent voters and Senator Obama has blown open the race there with his 11-point lead among them," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said Tuesday.
• More polls show Obama building lead (Boston Globe/Political Intelligence) Obama now leads 51 percent to 33 percent, when McCain had led 49 percent to 39 percent a week ago.
• Gallup Rasmussen Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Polls: Obama Maintains Steady Lead Over McCain (Joe Gandelman, The Moderate Voice)
• Obama's Leads in 4 Key States Show Tough Road for McCain (Wall Street Journal)
• Independent voters breaking to Obama (Sun Sentinel/Juice) ``Do we want more of George Bush or a change? That’s what I’m voting for: change.’’

BLOOMBERG/TERM LIMITS

• WWTGD? (Or: What will Tom Golisano do?) (NY Daily News/Daily Politics) Former Independence Party Gov candidate may oppose eliminating term limits by council declaration...
• Term-limit foes seek aid - Wanted: law firm to back possible suit to force a voter referendum (metro new york)
• Testy Bloomberg denies twisting arms on term limits (DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OPEN PRIMARIES
Party elite punishes Sen. Kurita (The Leaf Chronicle) In effect, the party elite selfishly used questionable evidence and flimsy excuses to disenfranchise 4,477 voters who wanted Kurita to continue to represent them.

CAMPAIGN

• PA: Whose county will it be Nov. 4? Independent voters will tip the scale (Lancaster Eagle Gazette)
• NC: New voter registrations could shift balance (Fay Observer) “What really jumps out at me is the unaffiliateds,” Woodcox said. “The independents are registering at a higher pace than Democrats or Republicans.”
• WV: Independent voters on the rise in state (REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER) Since the 2004 general election, Democrats have witnessed a 15,230 drop in their ranks and there are 1,433 fewer Republicans registered, but the non-affiliated, or so-called “independents,” have soared by 27,205.
• The GOP's New Love: Bi-Post-Non-Partisanship (BuzzFlash.org - IL) Oh, and they are Republicans, by the way. But you wouldn't know that to hear them talk … and talk, and talk -- and in some cases actually blame that party without reference to their own irresponsible membership, as though they'd been living some sort of out-of-body, existential misunderstanding for the last few years.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The Party's Over - Millions of voters have moved out of the political party system. The decline of loyalty has made politics less stable and predictable -- and has resulted in close elections. (Wall Street Journal)
• What to Do After the Elections? (An Ordinary Person) Great recommendations!

CAMPAIGN

• Candidates look anew to N.H. and Iowa (Boston Globe) Antiwar sentiment also runs high, notably among the independent voters, who were McCain's base eight years ago but now have expressed misgivings about his vocal support for the war in Iraq.
• Obama establishes double-digit lead in Iowa poll (Chicago Tribune)
• Independents swing toward McCain (John P. Avlon, Politico) Obama’s campaign is confronting a political reality that Democrats have a difficult time dealing with: that America is essentially a center-right nation. Winning a national election comes down to winning over independents and centrists in swing states.
• Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Obama makes case for change (Nashua Telegraph) "McCain has grown his strength among Republicans and that's good, but we see Obama winning independents in the range of 50 (percent) to 35 percent. If Obama can hold on to that kind of edge here, it's ballgame.''
• Is the black vote already decided? (Newport News VA Daily Press)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• It's former anchor vs Senate veteran in Ore. race (KTVZ) Rick Dancer knows it could be another dismal year for Republicans in a state that's been trending more blue in recent years. But he said he's not running as a traditional Republican. He supports the concept of opening up primary elections so that independent voters, currently not allowed to vote in Oregon's Republican and Democratic primary elections, would have a say in picking candidates.
• On Politics: State Sen. Rosalind Kurita was robbed (Nashville City Paper) Tennessee Democrats now appear to care more about politics and holding power than they do actual democracy.
• Tennessee Democrats Invalidate State Senate Primary Because Republicans Participated in that Primary (Ballot Access News)

LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS

• Minnesota Poll: Coleman, Franken slip amid sniping (Minneapolis Star Tribune) The beneficiary of the crossfire is Barkley, the Independence Party nominee who registers a robust support level of 13 percent among the 1,106 likely voters polled.
• ‘Outsiders’ Guide to Alaska’s Politics and Peculiarities (Flathead Beacon MT - from Christian Science Monitor)

LAST WORD TODAY
Our secessionist streak - The desire to break away from the U.S. is surprisingly widespread, and could be seen as pro-American (Baltimore Sun)