independentsforkerry.org

Anna Sale has a big job — finding out what nonpartisans, in a partisan world, think. And she’s not doing too bad!

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
The Changing Face of America’s Independent Voters (AUDIO The Takeaway) Anna Sale on the radio talks about independents and race

The Hankster

Rep. Stephen Fincher thinking of other ways to spend Medicare dollars — tax cuts for the wealthy? Check! Tax cuts for oil and gas corporations? Check! Subsidizing corporate farmers? BIG CHECKS!

At a GOP fundraiser this weekend, Rep. Stephen Fincher’s called President Obama’s congratulations to the troops and intelligence community “shameful.”

From The Leaf-Chronicle:

U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., also spoke briefly, and in part used his remarks to criticize the Obama administration. Fincher suggested President Barack Obama is politicizing Osama bin Laden’s death.

“It is shameful for him to take the credit when he bashes the military week after week, when they deserve the credit for killing Osama bin Laden,” Fincher said to a round of applause.

He stressed his desire that a Republican unseat Obama in the next election.

“If Obama has another (another term), and Harry Reid is running the Senate again, it may be too late (for the country),” Fincher said.

TN Democratic Party News

DOES POWER SHARING IN WASHINGTON MEAN
THAT THE PEOPLE WILL HAVE MORE POWER?

            Join us on the next National Conference Call for Independents led by
          Independentvoting.org President
Jackie Salit

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Ask the Indys (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire) Jackie Salit, a nationally recognized figure in the Independence Party movement is hosting a conference call next Monday
• Poll: Americans want Obama and GOP to work together (By: CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser) The survey indicates a partisan divide on the issue, with 94 percent of Democrats saying the GOP should cooperate with Obama and congressional Democrats, with more seven in ten independent voters agreeing. But Republicans appear divided, with 49 percent saying the two sides should try to reach common ground and 47 percent saying that GOP leaders should stick to their beliefs even if it causes political gridlock.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• ‘Open primary’ amendatory veto killed by Illinois House (By CHRIS WETTERICH, THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER)

BLOOMBERG 2010

• Poll: Bloomberg candidacy would aid Obama in 2012 (By Shane D’Aprile, The Hill/Ballot Box)
• Obama leads all comers, 60% think Palin cannot beat him (Public Policy Polling)

CALIFORNIA

• Capitol Alert: State’s first-ever redistricting commission to kick off Tuesday (By Jim Sanders, Fresno Bee) Members include two voters who decline to state a party affiliation, Stanley Forbes of Yolo County and Connie Galambos Malloy of Alameda County
• Reaching for a Legacy: A “Nonpartisan” Surrender? (By Peter Schrag, California Progress Report) Maybe the longest lasting reforms of Schwarzenegger’s years in Sacramento will be the changes in the elections process –the commission that will replace the legislature in drawing legislative and congressional districts and the creation of the “top two” election process, approved by the voters last June, in which Californians can choose any candidate regardless of party in the primary and in which the top two vote getters, again regardless of party, will face off in the general election.

EDUCATION REFORM

• Parents, Community Leaders React to Schools Chancellor Compromise – Mostly Positive Verdict on Deal to Clear the Way for Cathie Black (By Paul Leonard, Douglaston Patch)
• Creating bipartisan education reform (By: Thomas H. Kean, Politico)

LAST WORD

• American exceptionalism: an old idea and a new political battle (By Karen Tumulty, Washington Post) With a more intellectual sheen than the false assertions that Obama is secretly a Muslim or that he was born in Kenya, an argument over American exceptionalism “is a respectable way of raising the question of whether Obama is one of us,” said William Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The Hankster

Yesterday attorney Harry Kresky reported on his recent trip to Idaho to help defend independents there facing attack from a faction of the Idaho Republican Party hoping to close the primaries in order to control the electorate. Idaho does not have partisan registration, so closing the current open primary system in Idaho would require voters to declare a party.

Today Kresky and Idaho attorney Gary Allen filed this post-trial brief commenting on this important case.

Here’s the conclusion of the brief and you can read the whole thing below.

The State of Idaho has adopted a primary system that protects important interests, including full participation and democratic openness. The State has determined these considerations are more important than narrow partisan interests. Idaho has a political culture that allows people to function not as Democrats or Republicans, but as citizens seeking to elect the best possible candidates to public office. The evidence shows that this system is working, and virtually all voters are voting sincerely for the person they believe is the best candidate, or at least one who is acceptable. The IRP [Idaho Republican Party] in Government dominates the Idaho legislature, but it has not voted to change the current system. The State’s post-trial brief will speak to the substantial administrative burdens and expense of implementing the relief sought by the IRP Organization.

As a final point, Defendant-Intervenors emphasize that, should the IRP Organization prevail, independent voters, now twenty-eight percent of the electorate, would be barred from participating in the election that very often is the only one that counts.

Post Trial Brief Kresky Allen Idaho Case 1-08-Cv-00165-BLW

The Hankster

The parties must whip us into a frenzy, says Jacqueline Salit, president of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party and executive editor of the Neo-Independent magazine, because “we must put one, or the other, or both, political parties in power” even though they are responsible for the mess we are in… And Ted Rall continues the thought” “The American people are angry that their government doesn’t even pretend to give a damn about them.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• The Parties are Over (Jacqueline Salit, Huffington Post) No wonder the Republicans and Democrats and their auxiliaries — the tea parties, the unions, the media — must whip us into a frenzy. Whether we are Foxites, MSNBCists, bloggers or bored stiff, we’re now implored daily to get out to vote. Why? Not because voting develops our capacity to move the country forward. But because we must put one, or the other, or both, political parties in power — even though separately and together, they brought us to this anxious and crummy place.
• The Obama Postmortem – An autopsy of a political suicide (by Ted Rall, Boise Weekly) The takeaway is anger, not ideology. People are pissed. They hate the bailouts, but bailouts aren’t the point. The American people are angry that their government doesn’t even pretend to give a damn about them.
• Patriotic still with one less ballot (By Collin Llewellyn, Eagle News – The Student Newspaper at Florida Gulf Coast University) Let’s all take a cue from these independent voters. If you can’t find what you’re looking for within the two parties, look beyond them. If you’re still stuck, embrace your right to not vote.
• The Marks (Baldassare and DiCamillo) break down the election (Sac Bee/Capitol Alert) Baldassare said the election had revealed 10 trends in the state election: a strong environmentalist bent among voters, the importance of Latino voters, low approval for the Legislature, low trust in state government, the poor economy, disapproval of the budget crisis, the continuing popularity of President Barack Obama, an unpopular GOP, a reform-minded electorate and the large number of independent voters.
• Poll: Independents Powered the 2010 GOP Sweep (By PETER ROFF, US News & World Report/Peter Roff)
• Analysis: Report on the Democracy Corps and Resurgent Republic bipartisan post election poll (Democracy Corps – Carville – Greenberg) So, voters had plenty to say.  As Whit Ayers notes in his memo, independent voters were the carriers of that message, cutting their vote for Democrats by 13 points, giving the Republicans an 18-point margin.
• 2010′s Surprise Developments (By Charlie Cook, National Journal/Charlie Cook’s Off to the Races) Beyond the symbolism and images, big mistakes were made and Democrats seem happy to blame President Obama and the economy and not accept responsibility for pursuing an agenda that turned independent voters, who had voted by an 18-point margin in 2006 for Democrats, to vote for Republicans by an 18-point margin in 2010, according to exit polls.
• Poll: Independents fueled GOP wave (By JONATHAN MARTIN, Politico) commentary

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING

• Voters Pass Redistricting Reforms in California, Florida and Minnesota (PRESS
• RELEASE Common Cause)
• Tedisco urges action on redistricting reform (By PATRICK H. DONGES, The Saratogian)
• Salisbury (N.C.) Post on state redistricting (Fox News – Charlotte)
• Who would you support as 3rd party candidate in 2012? (FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty)
• Third party follies (By Greg Sargent, Washington Post/The Plum Line) During the campaign it wouldn’t take long until Bloomberg’s positions on issues revealed him to be more or less ideologically in sync with the national Democratic party. He would not represent an ideological alternative to Obama in any meaningful sense.

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES

• North Carolina Independent Candidate Elected to State Legislature (Ballot Access News)
• Alabama Elects First Independent to State Legislature Since 1983 (Ballot Access News)
• Tennessee Independent Legislator Re-Elected (Ballot Access News)
• Curry’s HD61 Race In Western Colo. Not Over Yet (CBS 4 Denver)

TEA PARTY

• Support for tea party? Its goals, yes. The movement, not as much (By Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor)

TEXAS

• On the Agenda: Closing in on what the election told us (By: Harvey Kronberg, News Austin While Tuesday’s election was devastating for Democrats, it would be a mistake to think it was an affirmation of Republicans. In fact, exit polls report that more than half of those who voted last week have an equally negative view of both parties.

The Hankster