TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM

• OREGON REPUBLICANS & DEMOCRATS TEAM UP TO END THIRD PARTY COMPETITION (NewsWithViews.com) "Try to imagine the sheer horror of having both Democrat and Republican Parties under the control of the liberal-left. It'll be the downfall of the United States and will open the door to the Internationalists who believe America is simply a cash-cow for the world," said Baker. [NOTE: This publication should be called News With Right Wing Hysteria]
• Arriving Michigan Delegates to Democratic Party National Convention Finally Freed From 'Half Of One Vote' Punishment Mandate (Marketwatch) Without any public hearings, the majority of 110 State Representatives, and 38 State Senators were co-conspirators in the popup of Public Act 52 of 2007 ("Closed Early Michigan Presidential Primary") signed by Gov. Granholm on September 4, 2007.
• Early voting kicks off in parish (The Natchez Democrat) This is the first election cycle in which closed primaries are being used in Louisiana, Ensminger said.“We have always had open primaries, and a lot of people crossed party lines to vote in an election, but hopefully there won’t be too much confusion,” she said.

CAMPAIGN

• Poll: Obama leads by 5 points in Colorado (Washington Times) Among independent voters, Mr. Obama took 43 percent, Mr. McCain 34 percent, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney 2 percent, with 31 percent undecided.
• Poll: McCain leads Obama in Colorado (The Denver Post) In the poll Independent voters split between the two candidates, with 46 percent favoring McCain to Obama's 44 percent.
• PRESIDENTIAL RACE: Nevadans give McCain edge-But undecided voters hold key to election (Las Vegas Review Journal) Obama had a lead among Nevada independent voters, 40 percent to 34 percent, with 26 percent still undecided.
• Wild West No Longer a Lock for GOP (CQ Politics)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM
Parties would be wise to accept Top 2 system (The Daily News - Columbia WA)

CAMPAIGN

• Obama - McCain Tied Among Independents (Outside The Beltway)
• Pivoting to Populism (Washington Post) This turn to populism is not an extreme political makeover. Rather, it's a distinct tonal shift as the Democratic presidential candidate finishes a trip through three swing states -- Michigan, Ohio and Indiana -- where blue-collar voters aren't necessarily on board. Listen to Obama, and you hear the distant strains of Al Gore 2000: "the people versus the powerful."
• Independents Remain Split Between Obama and McCain (Gallup)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

NORTH CAROLINA

• Under the Dome column: Voters make swap for primary (The News & Observer, Raleigh) Of them, 42 percent switched to the Democratic Party and 42.2 percent switched to unaffiliated. Just 15 percent became Republicans.
• N.C. poll: Obama leads, Clinton gains (Charlotte Observer) By party registration, Obama led 48 percent to 43 percent among Democrats and 55-38 among independent or unaffiliated voters.
• Campaigns in full swing as voters head to the polls (Carrboro Citizen) Reams said the estimated party breakdown for those who have voted so far shows 7,160 Democrats, 619 Republicans and 2,098 unaffiliated voters.
• Poll: Obama leads Clinton in N.C. (Greensboro News Record)

INDIANA * Democrats Scramble for Indiana-In Open Primary,Republican Voters Could Decide Victor (Wall Street Journal)

WEST VIRGINIA

• White House race helps Democrats lead in early voting (Charleston Gazette) Unaffiliated voters reflect the fastest growing segment of the state's registered voters. Their ranks have swelled by 22,644 since the 2006 general election, and they now account for 13.2 percent of the state's total.
• Independents required to ask for party ballots (Charleston Gazette) "The polling place is a sacred place," Bailey said. "State law removes from poll workers any opportunity to influence voters."

POLLS

• McCain inches up in Harris poll (UPI) Obama has a significant edge with independent voters. While 37 percent would vote for him and 30 percent for McCain, in a Clinton-McCain match-up only 30 percent would vote for her and 36 percent for the Republican.
• Wright Uproar Boosts Clinton Confidence (The Politico) Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed her beating Republican John McCain 50 percent to 41 percent while Obama was running 46 percent to 44 percent in the same matchup. A Fox News poll Wednesday showed her outperforming Obama among independent voters.
• Anti-McCain ad seems to work (Baltimore Sun/The Swamp) HCD Reseach Inc., a market research company, found that independent voters went from 50 pecent who saw McCain in a "mostly favorable" light before they saw the ad, to 40 percent after they viewed the ad.
• Hillary Clinton's camp touts new poll findings (Los Angeles Times/Top of the Ticket)

FEATURE * Clinton and McCain Are Born Again as Populist Candidates (Gloria Borger, US News & World Report)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Polls: Clinton, Obama in tight race in Indiana (CNN) Obama owes his victories throughout the nomination battle to African-Americans, young voters, upscale whites and independent voters.
• GOP Seeds Of Dissent? (The Bulletin, Philadelphia's Family Newspaper) Mr. Huckabee and Dr. Paul collected 11 percent (91,423 votes) and 16 percent (128,467 votes), of the vote, respectively, at a time the GOP race is all but over.
• Obama Plans May General Election Organizing Launch (Washington Post/The Trail) New registrations have hit 165,000 in North Carolina and topped 150,000 in Indiana -- and unlike in Pennsylvania, both of those May 6 states open the primaries to unaffiliated voters (and Republicans too in Indiana)
• North Carolina: By The Numbers (RealClearPolitics) There are more than 2.6 million Democrats and 1.2 million unaffiliated registered voters in the state
• FOX TV Rasmussen Reports: Obama Trails McCain by 1 Point (RasmussenReports.com) Among unaffiliated voters in the state, McCain leads Clinton by twelve and Obama by five.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents and Online Activism (By Marcia Ford, Donklephant)
• Give independents chance to vote (The Citizens Voice - PA)

NORTH CAROLINA

• Dems expect flurry of action-Obama, Clinton set up across street from each other (Independent Tribune - Concord and Kannapolis)
• Thanks Price, Watt (LETTER to Carrboro Citizen) Superdelegates endorse Obama
• Clinton faces uphill battle in North Carolina (CNN) Unaffiliated voters can participate in North Carolina's semi-open primary, and although Obama split independent voters with Clinton in Ohio and Texas, political observers say independents in North Carolina appear likely to tilt back toward Obama, as they have done in other southern states.
• Lower numbers taking advantage of early voting (Blue Ridge Times-News) So far, Republican, Democratic and unaffiliated voters turned out in similar numbers in Henderson County. More than 480 unaffiliated voters turned out, compared to 432 Republicans and 474 Democrats.

CAMPAIGN

• Napolitano: Dems fight won't help McCain in long run (by KTAR Newsroom)
• Wu endorses Obama, tying up Oregon's superdelegate count (The Oregonian)

POLLS

• Harvard survey: Young voters favor Obama over Clinton (Boston Globe)
• Despite youth hoopla, it's seniors who vote (San Francisco Chronicle) In a national survey of 514 GOP and independent voters released Thursday, 52 percent of Republicans said they felt irritated while viewing the anti-Obama North Carolina ad. Regardless, 46 percent of Republicans felt it would help McCain's chances in the general election compared to 37 percent of independents, according to the HCD Research survey.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• What Independent Voters Want (By Marcia Ford, Donklephant)
• Editorial: It’s time to approve an open primary (Corvallis Gazette Times) As state Sen. Frank Morse recently told the Gazette-Times, “I realize it’s an uphill battle with the parties, but I feel that a process that disenfranchises 25 percent of the electorate is wrong.”

CAMPAIGN

• Indiana Analysis: Obama's image helps draw support (NorthWest Times) Obama reaches outside the traditional confines of the Democratic primary electorate
• Has McCain Flip-Flopped on Torture? (Time) Dean's statement, distributed in a press release, was a political attack meant to raise questions among independent voters.
• Race is Still the X Factor for Obama (Earl Ofari Hutchinson, BlackNews.com) if he can’t convince Clinton’s white vote supporters, and they are Democrats, to back him, the chances are nil that he’ll have any more success with Republican and independent white voters in these states.
• The Challenge of Disrupting the Emotions Obama Generates (The Campaign Spot/National Review Online) Fully 82% of black Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters say Obama has made them feel proud, but just over half of white Democrats (53%) express this view.
• LINK TO PEW RESEARCH POLL 3/27/08 on Obama, Rev. Wright, Clinton Credibility
• Upcoming contests: Still single digits (MSNBC FIRST READ) "North Carolina has netted at least 110,000 new voters so far this year, with a particularly sharp rise among unaffiliated voters, Democrats and black people, according to the State Board of Elections."

NORTH CAROLINA

• Primary party-swap deadline is today (Charlotte Observer)
• A complicated ballot full of critical choices-Voters tune into new registration rules, new county commissioner districts and contested races from the top of the ticket to a local tax referendum (Carrboro Citizen)
• North Carolinians registering to vote in record numbers (Miami Herald)

POLLS

• The popular vote's margin of error (MSNBC/Mystery Pollster, By Mark Blumenthal) Measurement criteria may cloudy the Democratic candidates' vote tally
• CUIP is putting together a report that will be widely distributed this summer about independents and the presidential primaries, so let your voice be heard -- take the poll at independentvoting.org
  

NEW YORK POLITICS

• Bloomberg Hopes As Goes California On Redistricting, So Goes NY (Elizabeth Benjamin, Daily Politics/Daily News)
• McCain: Why He Came to New York (Trailwatch/Forbes)
• MARIST POLL APRIL 9 with "non-enrolled" -- that's independent -- voter break-out on presidential preferences

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

CAMPAIGN

• Clinton, Obama rallies are like jazz vs. rock (The Oregonian)
• Democrats See Opening In GOP Bastion of Nebraska/War Sentiment Could Play a Role In Number of Races (Wall Street Journal) Independents outnumber Dems and Repubs
• With John on Her Side (Andrew Romano, Newsweek Stumper) Hillary to create Poverty Czar post for John Edwards
• Campaign Notebook: Social Issues Put on Back Burner in Campaign (Bloomberg)
• PA voter sign-ups near record-Officials say historic high could be reached by April 22 primary (Erie Times News)

POLLS

• Presidential Swing States (FL, OH & PA) Poll April 2, 2008 (Quinnipiac University Poll)
• Second poll shows Clinton's Pennsylvania lead shrinking (The Morning Call)
• N.C. poll: Voters put value on trust-McCain surpasses both Democrats in array of ratings (MyrtleBeachOnline.com)
• CUIP seeks independent voters for online presidential poll (Independentvoting.org) Independent voters -- by a wide margin (58% to 37%) -- said in a recent CBS/AP poll that the U.S. should have stayed out of the war in Iraq. CUIP wants to know what you think about this and other important issues of the day.

LOCAL

• RI: Chafee, Laffey speak volumes (The Providence Journal) Chafee’s new book, Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President.
• FL: Enviros say climate-change legislation a political plus for Crist (Sarasota Herald Tribune) “The take home message today is that independents have swung clearly in the direction of climate protection,”
• LA: Vote today called key to seat in Congress-Republicans hold sway in 1st District (NOLA.com) after excluding unaffiliated voters from primary
• OR: Voters Switch Affiliations For Primaries (KPTV Portland) Nearly 10,000 Oregon voters have switched their party affiliation in order to vote in May's primary.