New York City Independence Party Breaks Records

142,817 VOTES FOR BLOOMBERG ON COLUMN C
DELIVERS MARGIN TO
CITY'S FIRST INDEPENDENT MAYOR

New York, NY-The Independence Party vote for Mike Bloomberg yesterday broke numerous records and re-enforced its ongoing mandate for independent governance and non-partisan reform.

Unofficial returns released by the Board of Elections put the IP total on Column "C" at 142,817 votes, nearly 26% of Bloomberg's total and 13% of all votes  cast. This means that 1 in 4 Bloomberg voters chose to vote on the Independence Party line.

The vote for the mayor on the Independence Party line was an increase of 91% over its total four years ago, when it drew nearly 75,000 votes on its crucial Column "C".

Jacqueline Salit, who has run all three IP campaigns for Bloomberg stated: "The Independence Party's 143,000 votes grows out of the strength of our grassroots organization, the popularity of political independence as a new option and a longstanding partnership with our independent mayor, Mike Bloomberg. This record breaking vote makes plain our growth and our role in the emerging shift in New York City politics. We're a new kind of minor party with an agenda for non-partisan reform. We have a broad and diverse base of support. We gave Mike his margin in a close race. And we made history by electing the city's first independent mayor."

In three consecutive elections, under varying circumstances, the Independence Party has made its mark on the NYC mayoral. In 2001, its 59,091 votes gave Bloomberg his margin over Democrat Mark Green, who lost by 35,000 votes. In 2005, the IP vote for Bloomberg grew by 26%, making it the only political party to demonstrate growth at the polls that year. This year, the IP delivered 13% of the total  votes cast- the largest percentage ever-by a minor party for a cross-endorsed mayoral candidate.

For the last 20 years, other minor parties polled between 32,551 (the Working Families Party vote for Mark Green in 2001) and 62,469 (the Liberal Party vote for Rudy Giuliani in 1993).

Atlanta Mayoral Race: New grassroots video for Kasim Reed

There is a new grass roots support commercial that has been released in support of Kasim Reed.
New video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnauZD2FNhA


Sincerely,
concerned citizens

Obama and The Movement

Retooling Obama's campaign machine for the long haul (By Peter Wallsten, LA Times) The organization, known internally as "Barack Obama 2.0," is being designed to sustain a grass-roots network of millions that was mobilized last year to elect Obama and now is widely considered the country's most potent political machine.

Be sure to read this article. And if you haven't already, be sure to read The New Politics: Barack Obama, Party of One

by John Heilemann in New York magazine: Without entirely realizing it, America elected its first Independent president. The implications for how the country will be governed are profound, exhilarating, and loaded with risk.

And while you're at it, you definitely should not miss Jacqueline Salit's "How the Independent Movement Went Left by Going Right"...

Happy reading!

That Hankster

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

POST-POST ELECTION TALK

• Licking wounds, GOP determined to heal (Philadelphia Inquirer) Some say the party has drifted from its fiscally conservative, small-government principles. Others say too much emphasis on issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights, important to the party's dominant social conservatives, created an image of intolerance that repels large numbers of moderate and independent voters.


• FOLLOW THE LEADER: ADVICE FOR REBUILDING THE GOP (NY Post) Dem activists busied themselves trying to create a carbon copy of this infrastructure of think tanks, sophisticated voter lists, media watchdog groups and talk radio outlets.... History shows that while ideas matter, personality trumps all.

Be sure to check out independent strategist Jackie Salit's new November video 18 Million Independents Vote for Barack Obama... "The independent movement in America has become a center-left movement." You can read more of Salit's salient points at IndependentVoting.org

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

POST-ELECTION

• Vast Obama network becomes a political football-Some Obama advisors want to blend his campaign operation with the Democratic National Committee. Others worry that such a move could cause the grass-roots organization to unravel. (LA Times) "A lot of these warriors on the ground are not Democrats, and that's by choice," Figueroa said.
• Obama carries precincts in traditionally Republican Inland region by substantial margins (Press Enterprise - southern CA) The results suggest that many of the region's increasing number of independent voters -- those who decline to state a party affiliation -- went for Obama.
• America Throws Long - If Obama doesn't connect, more than the game is lost. (By PEGGY NOONAN, Wall Street Journal) Does it mark the beginning of a center-left era? That's the kind of thing you know in retrospect. The vote will prove to be a realigning one if Mr. Obama does well enough over a long enough period that people come to see themselves not as voters who picked him but as people who are his followers. If they choose to follow him, their self-identification as Democrats will sink in and formalize, and the vote they cast in 2008 will come to seem not a decision but an affiliation. Without affiliation, everything remains in play and will be in play in the coming years. If Mr. Obama doesn't catch the pass and cross the goal line, it will mean this election marked a moment, not a movement.
• Lurching center-left (Washington Times) It is now abundantly clear that America is a center-left nation, and healthy majorities of the American people agree with Mr. Obama's liberal economic policies.
• OR: A blue election tide -- or a white one? (The Oregonian/The Stump) While the rest of the nation celebrates a transformational election that couldn't have taken place without minorities in general and Barack Obama in particular gaining access to political power, the Oregon Legislature will convene in 2009 as the least diverse it's been in decades.
  

Sloggin still good, havin trouble bloggin...

FYI -- I'm having an AWFUL time uploading little short videos from my little digital camera to The Hankster. Not sure what that's about, but I will continue to engage the "people's media" and bring you more pictures and footage via Google. Can't see what the problem might be, but hey, one more reason to keep sloggin!

I'll see ya! Hopefully!
-NH

PTW 2008 Blogging the World Closing Plenary

The Grassroots Still Grow in Brooklyn commentary.....

Independent leader Jim Holbert files for Kentucky 5th Congressional District

Laurel resident running for Congress

Special to the Times-Tribune
July 9, 2008

Jim Holbert, Independent candidate for the Kentucky 5th Congressional District U.S. House of Representatives seat, filed his nominating petition with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office in Frankfort on Monday. The filing puts Holbert on the ballot in the 5th District for the Nov. 4 General Election for Congress.

Holbert’s candidacy has been on record with the Federal Election Commission since March, and he has been actively conducting a grassroots campaign in the District on a progressive, populist platform.

Holbert outlines his positions saying, “We’ve got to stop ‘politics as usual’ and start bringing common sense to our regional and national problems. We need trade and industrial policies that will bring back good middle-class jobs. We must start enforcing the existing laws which are supposed to protect Americans from such problems as illegal immigration and unsafe job conditions. And we’ve got to de-fund and defeat the forces behind terrorism through smarter oil, energy and economic policies. We won’t do it through open-ended wars. Our stated objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan have been achieved, and it’s time to bring our troops home.”

Holbert, who resides with his family in Laurel County, is a former Army and Coast Guard officer who works as an Emergency Medical Service helicopter pilot in southeast Kentucky.

To get involved, email contact@jimholbert2008.com
http://www.jimholbert2008.com

South Carolina: Polls, Yard Signs and Beauty Shops

An American Research Group poll of likely primary voters conducted over the same period showed a similar lead for Obama. In that poll, Obama led Clinton 45 percent to 36 percent, with Edwards coming in third with 12 percent. (CNN)

Mr. Obama is trying something many observers say has never been done here: He is circumventing entrenched local leadership and building a political machine from scratch. (Brad Warthen's Blog at The State)

In South Carolina, as in Iowa, the Obama campaign has out-hustled, out-innovated, and outorganized its competition. (Marc Ambinder on The Atlantic)

The Obama campaign's innovative Barbershops and Beauty Salons (B&B) outreach program (AFP)