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Independents' day is here for new magazine owner. "Salit and Co. think it's time for the independent movement to be part of the political conversation in America. I agree."
David Shaw
Los Angeles Times 
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black america goes
independent.
For generations, African Americans have been politically connected to the Democratic Party. Find out how that is changing and who is leading the way. |
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Independent groups
CUIP is motivating, training and supporting an activist network of independent leaders who are building throughout the country.
AL, Independent Alabama
AZ, Grand Canyon Independent Voters
CA, IndependentVoice.Org
CO, Colorado Independent Voters
CT, Independent Party
CT, Connecticut for Lieberman
DC, District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control
FL, Sunshine Independents
GA, Georgia Committee of Independent Voters
GA, iMove
IA, Independent Voters of Iowa
ID, American Independent Movement
IL, United Independents of Illinois
IN, Independent Hoosiers
KS, Wichita Metro Political Independent Voice of Kansas
KY, Kentucky Independent Voters
MA, Massachusetts Coalition of Independent Voters
MD, Free State Independents
ME, Committee for an Independent Voice
MO, Independent Missouri
NC, Independents for Change
NH, Committee for an Independent Voice
NJ, Committee for an Independent New Jersey
NY, Independence Party
OH, Independent Voters Alliance (OHIVA)
OR, Committee for an Independent Voice
PA, Independent Pennsylvanians
SC, Independence Party of South Carolina
SD, South Dakota Voice of Independents
TN, Tennessee Independent Voters
TX, Independent Texans
VT, Vermont Committee for an Independent Voice
WI, Wisconsin Group for an Independent Voice (WiGiv)
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Welcome New Visitors. This is an exciting and challenging time for independent voters and for the independent movement. Independents are now 40% of the electorate. Polls show that 41% of college students consider themselves indies as do 35% of African Americans under the age of 30. Independents have been participating in the presidential primary process in record numbers and have played an integral role in shaping the presidential season.
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Spring/Summer Issue of The-Neo Independent.
The only magazine written by and for independent voters.
Read the Editor's Note
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Take the Poll for Independents. 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. We want to know what you think about this and other important issues of the day. Go to the poll |
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New Books out on Independents. Peruse author profiles and reviews of three books of interest to independents. Doug Shoen's Declaring Independence: The Beginning of the End of the Two-Party System. Marsha Ford's We the Purple and Dr. Omar Ali's In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third-Party Movements in the United States. |
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You Can't Change the Political Game Unless You Change the Political Rules. Independents are now 40% of the electorate and are playing a major role in national and local politics. Read about the issues and political reforms favored by many independent voters that address the institutional barriers to their participation and to greater democracy. |
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How Nader Has Made Himself An Irrelevant Man. Ralph Nader seems to equate himself with the independent political movement and to define it relative to his positions, his aspirations and his critiques of the two-party system. |
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How are
Independents Impacting?
Read election analysis from leaders of the independent political movement. Lenora Fulani, America's leading black independent, addresses big developments in the black vote.
California's 3 million "decline to states" are represented by IndependentVoice.org Co-Chaired by Jim Mangia.
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The Bloomberg Story. Against the backdrop of speculation about Mike Bloomberg's presidential ambitions, Jackie Salit, who ran his campaigns on the Independence Party line in '01 and '05, penned this memo to activists in her network recounting the history of partnership between America's "nonpartisan Mayor" and the ardent independent activists who backed him. |
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Rock The Debates Gets Candidates on Record Regarding Open Debates. Iowa Independents Larry Reinsch and Belinda Lawler (pictured) have joined up with Robert Sullentrop of St. Louis and Seth Cohn of New Hampshire to call for more open and inclusive presidential debates. Rock-The-Debates has posted video clips of nine presidential candidates on its website responding to the question of whether they would be willing to debate an independent in the 2008 general election. |
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California Independents and the Open Primary. CA is an open primary state and so 189,000 independent voters in Los Angeles county went to the polls to vote in the February 5th presidential primary. They had a 50/50 chance of their votes being counted. Find out why in "Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble" |
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Independents Radio Ad in South Carolina. Wayne Griffin, an African American business man and long time independent chairs the Independence Party of South Carolina. Griffin ran a radio ad running statewide describing the growing trend towards independence among black voters, reminding independents they could vote in the open primary, and giving reasons why black independents are supporting Obama. Click here to listen to radio ad. |
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Linda Curtis of Independent Texans. Linda Curtis, founder and chair of Independent Texans reports on highlights of the presidential primary season in the Lonestar state in "Political Terrain Shifts in Texas as Independents Gain Ground." |
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NH Independents on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. Betty Ward, co-founder of a NH association of inde-pendent voters (nhciv.org) and fellow independents, spoke with Tom Brokaw and NBC about the role of independents in this election. |
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Christian Science Monitor Features Four NH Independents. "I would like to see somebody who cares more about the country than the party..." said Betty Ward, a school teacher from Concord and a founder of the NH Committee for an Independent Voice. |
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Is this man an Independent? There was concern among independent voters in CT that Mr. Lieberman's so-called "independent candidacy" was a fraud on the voting public. Read the latest reactions from independent voters to his endorsement of John McCain in Campaign and Elections magazine: "Why This Independent May Not Sway the Ones that Matter." |
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Can Independents add Sway to their Swing? A desire and need among independents to be organized--not just as swing voters reacting to partisan dynamics-- but as sway voters able to initiate events and sit at the table on their own behalf is the subject of this editorial first published in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. |
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Subscribe to
the free weekly
e-publication for independents.
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Donate: "I'm a donor because I refuse to be labeled and patronized by the ruling parties. The time is here for Independents to assist in the evolution of the two party system to something that resembles what people really want from their politicians." Margarita Garcia (Los Angeles, CA)
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Watch the video "Facing America's Independents."
Or view the trailer.
Purchase the DVD.  |
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Obama's youthquake: Is the Senator Leading a Movement, or Just an Interesting Campaign?
Richard Halicks
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Obama's "movement" might still founder under the disciplined assault of Hillary Clinton's campaign. But until that time, it is powered in large part by the inexhaustible idealism of young American voters, who are turning out in extraordinary numbers in the Democratic primaries. In Georgia, for example, people 18 to 29 as a percentage of all voters increased from 11 percent in the 2004 primary to 17 percent last week. The increase was typical of other primary states, and in nearly all cases, the majority of that younger vote went to Obama. |
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Why Independents Hold the Key
Gerald Seib
Wall Street Journal
Presidential campaigns, like sports events, play out amid a blizzard of statistics. But if you have to keep in mind just one number, make it this one: Almost 45% of New Hampshire's voters are officially registered as "undeclared" -- that is, they are independent voters. |
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Washington Case Will Help Weigh Party Power vs. Public Interest
Op ED
Harry Kresky
The News Tribune
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard two cases in which it was called upon to weigh the competing interests of political parties, government and the American people. In the argument of both cases, surprising deference was paid to the rights of political parties by the justices and lawyers alike. |
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Oklahoma's Most Wanted
Wall Street Journal Editorial
A veteran political activist is facing 10 years in prison and a hefty fine for attempting to petition government for redress of grievances. The latest news from Pakistan? No, this is happening in Oklahoma. |
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The November Surprise
Lou Dobbs
CNN
More Americans than ever before are now identifying themselves as independents, and I hope millions of Americans in the day and weeks ahead will drop their party affiliation and become independents, refusing to be taken for granted by these two political parties and refusing to be taken for fools by the candidates they're putting forward. |
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Political Parties Take a Hit in Pierce County
The News Tribune
Editorial
Give Pierce County voters credit. They not only waded through a raft of sometimes-contradictory charter amendments on this year's ballot, they did so with consistency. Voters stripped three county offices of partisan allegiance, rejected attempts to limit their choices in county elections, and ensured minor party and independent candidates equal access to the ballot. |
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Independents May Be Crucial in New Hampshire
New York Times
The fight for independent voters in New Hampshire could be important not just in determining the two parties' nominees but also as a preview of the general election. |
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Ballot Access News
By Richard Winger
For 23 years CUIP has championed The Voter Freedom Act, legislation to standardize ballot access laws nationally. Last week Rep. Ron Paul reintroduced the bill (HR3600) which sets a requirement of 1,000 signatures per Congressional district. In several states it remains all but impossible for independents to get on the ballot owing to the maze of state rules and regulations and exceedingly high signature requirements. |
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Politicking at the county fair
Times-News
Blair Koch
Amid the hustle and bustle of vendors peddling T-shirts, temporary tattoos, bottles of water and cotton candy, Twin Falls County fairgoers can also find another product - politics.
This year both the Republican Party of Idaho and the American Independent Movement of Idaho are represented at the fair. |
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Waxachie Daily Light
By Joann Livingston
Gov. Rick Perry has yet another fight on his hands, with Independent Texans formally launching an effort to bring his tenure in public office to an end.
From bumper stickers promoting its Web site - impeachperry.com, which can also be accessed via www.indytexans.org - to a top 10 list of reasons why Perry should be impeached to public presentations, the group says it will push the state Legislature to remove a governor that it says is no longer in touch with his constituency. |
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A Political Force With Many Philosophies; Survey of Independents, Who Could Be Key in 2008
Washington Post
...The study is a comprehensive examination of a broad segment of the electorate -- about three in 10 voters call themselves independents -- that is poised to play the role of political power broker in 2008... |
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Odds Bleak for Third Party Candidate
Susan Milligan
Boston Globe
...Jackie Salit, who negotiated Bloomberg's endorsement by the Independence Party of New York for both of his mayoral campaigns, said Bloomberg could draw support from the escalating number of independent voters across the country, but he would need to prove a genuine commitment to nonpartisanship and that he wasn't opting to become an independent just to advance his personal profile in politics...
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Independents Rule New Hampshire
Rick Klein
ABC News
For all the partisan energy in New Hampshire this week for a pair of presidential debates, the voters who could determine the outcome of the first-in-the-nation primaries don't call themselves Democrats or Republicans. They're the famously unpredictable New Hampshire independents... |
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Independent Voters May 'Crash' New Hampshire Democratic Primary
Heidi Przybyla
Bloomberg
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic presidential candidates may be about to welcome a host of party-crashers: New Hampshire's independents ...
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Candidates Still Take Cues from Their Base: Indepen-dents' Rise Presents a Dilemma
Dan Balz
Washington Post
Five months after midterm elections that demonstrated the rising power of independent voters, conservative and liberal activists continue to drive the presidential campaign dialogue, deepening the red-blue divisions that have defined national politics for more than a decade. |
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Independent Voters a Key to Race
Holly Ramer
Associated Press
New Hampshire's independent voters -- those unaffiliated with either political party -- have doubled in number since 1992. They make up 44 percent of registered voters, more than Republicans or Democrats, and can vote in either primary, making them a potentially powerful force in 2008...
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| Identification with the Republican Party is falling but identification with the Democratic Party is not rising. Instead there is a spike in the number of people who do not identify with either. New York Times |
| One fourth of black adults now characterize themselves as independent. Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. |
| In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 42% of registered voters said they were 'independent,' compared with 28% who called themselves Democrats and 24% who called themselves Republicans. Wall Street Journal |
| Peggy Noonan for the WSJ: "Third Time: America may be ready for a new political party" |
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