News Headlines for Independent Voters 10/29/09
As we head to Election Day 2009, everyone is talking about the Yankees and the Phillies. And a few people are talking about the Mayoral race in NYC, where independent candidate Mike Bloomberg is poised to become the first independent mayor of New York, running on the Independence Party (Column [...]

SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK: THE INDEPENDENTS’ STORY
By: Jackie Salit
When we finally get far enough down the road on health care reform, it will become clear that a driving force in the intensity of the fight was a heart attack. Not the medical kind. The political kind.
Independents swung decisively to Barack Obama in the 2008 [...]

News Headlines for Independent Voters 10/6/09
Independent Voters
On healthcare and other hot issues: Follow the independents–The number of voters not tied to Democrats or Republicans is expanding fast. Both parties need to adjust. (By the Christian Science Monitor’s Editorial Board) Were the 2010 elections to occur today, 43 percent of independents say they would vote Republican [...]

Gallup has some numbers that might surprise.
Basically, the folks who decide the elections (the indys) are starting to consider the Republicans more and Dems better pay attention. Because the only reason they made such historic gains in 2006 is because the DNC targeted districts that wanted more moderate leadership and took seats from the GOP.
More [...]

Independent voters are at the center (though not necessarily centr-IST!) of the current firestorm going on in the country over healthcare, socialism, war, and nearly every other issue around. I was reading Jonathan Weisman’s article in the WSJ yesterday (see below) and was struck by some of the questions that the NBC/WSJ poll asked voters. [...]

Poli-Tea author Damon Eris, independent political blogger, talks with The Hankster about independent and third party politics, the rise of independent voters in the face of an entrenched political duopoly, and what it all means to American politics circa 2009 and beyond.
Click here to sign in to the show.
You’ll be able to access the call [...]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Coverage of independent voters and health care reform from a more progressive viewpoint:

Wisconsin: Health Care Vital Issue (By Cecily Wu, CQ Politics) Thus, enactment of health care legislation that can draw solid public support could enable Kagen to maintain the backing of independent voters, who Scattergood said comprise upwards of 20 percent of the [...]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
More from Quinnipiac and Field polls on independent voters’ views

Deficit a Growing Concern for Public — and White House (By GERALD F. SEIB, Wall Street Journal) When Mr. Hart, the Democratic pollster, conducted a focus-group discussion with a dozen independent voters in Maryland a few days ago, he drew this conclusion: “These independents’ biggest [...]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Wherever independents fall on the supposed political “spectrum”, if they ARE on the political “spectrum”, (i.e. they do exist!) Many MSM publishers seek increasing irrelevance if they don’t see the direction that the American people are headed…. While it’s clear that independents are “all over the map” on social issues, they increasingly come together [...]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
If you want to call it “fickle” to leave the two-party system behind in favor creating a new political culture, call me fickle!

2010: Fight for fickle kids (By: Eamon Javers, Politico) Stanford University political science professor Morris Fiorina is convinced that both political parties haven’t yet grasped the scale of the change that’s happening [...]

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Continued look at who independent voters are/are not and Obama’s poll numbers…

A reminder: Most ‘independent’ voters aren’t (LA Times/Top of the Ticket)
Sick and Tired of Republicans and Democrats? New Parties Say They Offer Alternatives (By James King, Phoenix News Times)
Pa.’s Sestak plans Tuesday announcement (USA Today)
Poll: Pennsylvania ranks 20th most Democratic state in the [...]

Now that the House has left for summer recess, with the Senate leaving in a week, it’s a perfect time to look back and see what may have gone wrong in the Democrats’ plan to pass a major health care reform package before this week had passed. Most people tend to focus on the policy [...]

Not a whole lot of good has come the way to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) these days. The only organization I can think of that gets more right wing scorn has been ACORN, who I think mostly get picked on because they don’t fight back. Another ally, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), [...]

In my last post I detailed some of the roadblocks that have kept the Democratic leadership in Washington from finding a way to pass a major health care reform bill with a public option. They’ve whittled the cost of the bill down a few hundred billion dollars by negotiating concessions from drug companies and hospitals, [...]

While I have my doubts about this latest revelation, the obvious question remains: what Democrat would want her support? Especially since many Republicans aren’t too keen on being linked to her either.
I mean…really?
From Washington Times:
The former Republican vice-presidential nominee and heroine to much of the GOP’s base said in an interview she views the electorate [...]

With the President’s approval dropping and party ID numbers slipping…should Dems be worried?
More at True/Slant.

He’s not below 50% yet, but between these numbers and Gallup’s, the trend is clear.
Here’s more…
President Barack Obama’s first five months in office have seen his job approval remain stable overall – currently at a politically healthy 57 – 33 percent, but his disapproval has risen 8 – 10 points among several key demographic groups [...]

Never one to miss an opportunity, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg may run on the Republican ticket next mayoral election while still remaining a declared independent. Apparently, despite being an apostate to the national party, local borough GOP leaders are willing to let the still-popular mayor put his name on their line.
If you’re keeping score [...]

Whichever one of the Ten Commandments tells us not to bow down to idols, that’s the one we’ve been breaking with all the Abraham Lincoln worship lately.
There’s no way he was even half as popular amongst Northerners back in the 1860s (I still bump into Civil War kooks down South who HATE Lincoln more than [...]

In a few hours, Barack Hussein Obama will be President of the United States of America. This is an exceptional moment in U.S. history, not because Obama is the first black president (although that’s certainly noteworthy) but because we’re at one of those rare crossroads when we know the next four years will be of [...]