Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Monday, June 11, 2007

Conversations on Independence

CROWD: The attempt by a player to match or adopt an opponent's position in a marketplace or to affiliate with a trend, idea, or issue. (Politico's commissioned politics game The Playmaker's Table) ...In case you thought politics was a HUMAN activity......

In the "I coulda told you that for the price of a cheesburger...." category, Rasmussen tells us the results of their newest Poll: "56% Believe Most Congressmen Willing to Sell Their Vote" with 59% of those not affiliated with either major party agreeing. Interestingly, 60% of Repubs agree. Are the Dems (49%) naieve, and do the Repubs just have more experience? Any partisan or non-partisan way you cut it (and let's not forget about the 50% of us who choose not to participate....), most Americans don't think their representatives are representing them. I picked this up from The Drudge Retort.... Thanks, Drudge!

Matt Jerzyk on Rhode Island's Future (of the Providence Phoenix) ran this recap of the Washington Post's Chris Cizzilla's take on The Bloomberg 08 Possibility. Matt thinks the independent mayor of New York could be the first serious independent presidential candidate in a "long, long time".... As an independent and a New Yorker, I thank Matt for drawing attention to the potential independent run for President by Mayor Bloomberg. Little known fact: It was the ground operation of the Independence Party of New York (specifically the NYC faction) and the savy of independent political consultant Jacqueline Salit that got Mike elected in the first place in 2001 (and the added weight of Lenora Fulani's Outsider Coalition that swept 47% of the black vote for his re-election in 2005. BTW - he did NOT run as a Dem... (We have fusion in New York, where candidates are allowed to run on more than one line) If you haven't already, you might want to check out Salit's "Bloomberg Story"... My take: If Bloomberg is willing to work with the "unwashed" at the national level, it would be an interesting campaign... One thing we know for sure is that the American people are expensive!

From the Rothenberg Political Report: "From a purely political point of view, Democrats had their cake and ate it too." I would agree. Ever the more reason for independent voters to speak out on behalf of everyone. Independents broke 2-1 for the Dems and empowered them in Congress and some suggest for the 2008 national election. But, independents are -- independent. Looking for change of direction.

And finally, thanks for his post "Future Strength of Independent Voters Predicted by FDR", and congratulations to my new friend Jack Dunning, (The Dunning Letter) a personal information consumer advocate. Jack is very well the Ralph Nader of the information age! The Dunning Letter is very informative AND political!)

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