Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Friday, April 08, 2011

Independent Voters, Independent Candidates, Independent Mayors

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll on Government Shutdown Warning to Parties: Independent Voters Want Compromise (POSTED BY JOE GANDELMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, The Moderate Voice) Here are the key portions on independent voters (remember that Barack Obama won in 2008 with the support of independents, but the Dems lost independent support in 2010, the GOP won the independent vote in many places and they gained control of the House and many governorships)
INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES
  • Scott Ogilvie: St. Louis Independent Hopes to Pull Off an Upset in 24th Ward (By Chad Garrison, Riverfront Times) Ogilvie: It's all tied together. First of all, I believe in competitive elections, and if I didn't run as an independent there would be just one name on the ballot April 5. I couldn't run as a Republican because I'm not one. That said, I'm willing to bet that I'm much more progressive than my Democratic opponent. As to why I'm running, my joke is that my wife told me that if I don't do it, then I have to stop talking about it. The truth is that this is something that I've been considering for about a year. I really like this city and have a strong commitment to helping it grow and prosper.
  • Straight-party voting promotes ignorance (Steve Lachman, Centre Daily Times - PA) The straight-party or straight-ticket option discriminates against independent and small-party candidates. Not only does the ballot present two places where the voter may vote for major-party candidates, but if the voter opts for the straightparty option, he or she may never see the listing for the independent candidate.
NEW YORK
Bloomberg running for another term -- his legacy (By Daniel Trotta, Reuters) CITY HALL, THEN WHAT? Bloomberg spiced up the guessing game by creating Bloomberg View, a new commentary service of Bloomberg LP, the financial news and information company he founded that is a direct competitor to Thomson Reuters.

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