Monday, December 31, 2007

Facing America's Independents

A Documentary on America's Emerging Political Force

View me with a number of my independent friends. Want to get involved with the movement that's changing American politics? Use the above link.

Michael H. Drucker
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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Bloomberg leads unity challenge

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end gridlock in Washington.

Others who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two major parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party presidential campaign.

The meeting will include Democrats Sam Nunn, Charles S. Robb, David L. Boren and Gary Hart, all former senators; and, on the GOP side, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, former Republican National Committee Chairman Bill Brock, former Sen. John Danforth, and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

"It is not a gathering to urge any one person to run for president, or to say there necessarily ought to be an independent option," said the meeting's host, university President Boren. "But if we don't see a refocusing of the campaign on a bipartisan approach, I would feel I would want to encourage an independent candidacy."

The group could muster the financial and political firepower. Others who have indicated that they will attend include former GOP Sen. William S. Cohen, who was Defense Secretary in the Clinton administration; former Democratic Sens. Alan J. Dixon and Bob Graham; former GOP Rep. Jim Leach; Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former President Eisenhower; David M. Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; and former U.N. Ambassador Edward J. Perkins.

While disclaiming any plan to run for president in 2008, Bloomberg has continued to fuel speculation by traveling widely and speaking out on domestic and international issues.

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, December 28, 2007

Independent voters care a lot

From the NH Monitor

Dec 28, 2007

Dear President Clinton: Your comment in the Concord Monitor regarding your perception of independent voters was distressing to me and my fellow independents in New Hampshire ("Bill Clinton: Hillary has resilience," Monitor front page, Dec. 21)

Independents make up 44 percent of the voting population in New Hampshire and represent the largest segment of voters in the country. Independents do not label themselves as belonging to a political party. This does not mean that they are not interested, informed or involved in politics and government. This simply means that they do not limit their views, issues or votes to those favored by one political party.

Much attention has been focused on independent voters in New Hampshire, but there seems to be a fundamental confusion as to who these independents are and what our votes represent. We are not snoozing between presidential elections only to be woken and wooed by candidates, returning to our slumber in between because we "don't like politics."

To deny that a majority of voters "cares" is, with all due respect, a rather arrogant partisan view which does a disservice to this majority of voters and to the public servants who represent us and could benefit from knowledge of our views. Knowing and caring what is important to independents should be of vital importance to candidates, elected officials and public servants at every level.

I invite you to help us lead the charge to a better understanding of independent voters in America. We are not just voters in the primaries - we are citizens of this great country.

DONNA LEE RICHARDS, Nashua
(The writer is a member of the New Hampshire Committee for an Independent Voice.)

Here in NY, we have come across this attitude from the Clintons' before, since Hillary ran for the Senate.

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A Date To Watch Out For

March 5 is a key date for any would-be independent candidate.

That’s the first day for unaffiliated candidates to start circulating petitions in Texas - a state that not only has 34 electoral votes (the second-highest in the nation after California’s 55 and just ahead of New York’s 31) but also is home to some of the more onerous requirements for getting onto the ballot. Candidates have roughly two months to collect just over 73,000 signatures; the filing deadline is May 8.

Independent candidate who wants to be taken seriously is going to want to be on the ballot in all states next fall, which means putting in place a nationwide signature-gathering operation (with the exception of a few states where one only has to pay a fee to get on the ballot).

The day Bloomberg announced he had switched his enrollment from GOP to blank - June 19 - was right around the deadline for candidates who want to run as independents in Colorado (nine electoral votes) to declare their disaffiliation from the major parties.

Colorado, like almost every state except Nebraska and Maine, which split their electoral votes based on congressional district winners (much like Democratic National Convention delegates are awarded here in New York), has a winner-take-all system for awarding its electoral votes.

In 2004, Colorado voters rejected an effort to change the state’s rules to allow for split electoral votes. A similar effort has been pushed this year in California, but major party candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have urged voters there to resist.

Michael H. Drucker
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Monday, December 24, 2007

WA invasion of voters' right to privacy

Many Washington voters will be shocked and offended to learn that their private votes will not be counted in the Feb. 19 presidential primary unless they make a "political party declaration." That declaration will be provided to the political parties and will be publicly available under the state public records act.

Under WA populist traditions, a voter previously could make a primary-election choice for president in the privacy of the voter's booth, confident that the vote would be counted and the privacy of his or her party selection would be protected. The principle has been that no one is entitled to know your party preference. It is simply no one's business except your own

The voters passed an initiative in 1988 to have a presidential primary every four years. In the last presidential primary, voters had the option to cast an unaffiliated or independent ballot, and 40 percent of voters chose to maintain their political anonymity. In 2007, the Legislature eliminated that option, so a person wishing to vote in the upcoming February presidential primary will be required to declare a political affiliation. Such a declaration is particularly inappropriate when it does not reflect an independent voter's actual affiliation, or lack thereof.

With one's party preference exposed for campaigns and other observers to see, targeted telephone calls and mail solicitations would inevitably follow. Voters would risk criticism by partisans on the other side because of this loss of their privacy.

If you believe that the planned "political party declaration" is an inappropriate invasion of the WA voters' right to political privacy, please contact your WA state legislators and demand early action in the upcoming session to repeal the written political party declarations for WA's February presidential primary.

Michael H. Drucker
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Sunday, December 23, 2007

NYC Disabled Voters

On Saturday, December 22, 2007, the NY City's Board of Elections said it would put devices to allow disabled voters to cast ballots in every polling locations by September, 2008.

City election officials jumped ahead of the state by agreeing to buy 1,800 ballot marking devices. The city will put one in each of its 1,369 polling locations and will place the rest as demonstrators in senior centers and other locations where people can get accustomed to them before going to the polls.

The devices provide disabled voters with audio and visual aids and allow them to cast paper ballots using a touch screen or keyboard; a tube they can use to sip and puff air; or foot paddles. The ballots are then sealed and later hand-counted along with absentee ballots.

Election officials said that buying and storing the devices and training workers how to use them will coat $40 million. Some or all of the expensive may be offset by HAVA money. Some officials say they might have to be scrapped after one year if they do not meet new standards. Others say they still could be used to create ballots for optical scanning devices.

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, December 21, 2007

Judge warns New York to comply with voting law

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 21, 2007

ALBANY - A federal judge is giving New York until Jan. 4 to develop a timeline for how it will comply with a federal election law to make voting more accurate and more accessible to the disabled.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe spent much of a court hearing yesterday expressing his frustration with what he described as the state's paralysis and failure to meet the requirements of the Help America Vote Act while every other state took action. He reminded officials several times he could jail members of the state Board of Elections for contempt of court.

Use the above link to read the complete article.

Michael H. Drucker
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Final IndependentPrimary.Com Voting Results

The results are in!

Over 110,000 people voted in IndependentPrimary.com.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich won the internet poll on the Democratic side. And Rep. Ron Paul won on the Republican side.

As long-time independents we decided to do this poll because we were very concerned that Kucinich, Paul and Gravel were excluded from some of the televised debates by the corporate media. We believe elections should be competitive and that the voters should decide at the polls! We want to give voters the authority to vote with their hearts.

Independents can swing the 2008 primary elections.

Use the above link to view the entire vote results.

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, December 20, 2007

ONE VOTE '08

ONE Vote '08 is hitting the airwaves in Iowa and New Hampshire and on cable televisions stations across the country. Watch ONE's new ad, which delivers the message that, together, we can bring healing and hope to the two billion people around the world, struggling to live on less than $2 a day:



Watch the presidential candidates tell us directly that ONE members have changed the way they think about extreme poverty and global disease:



Michael H. Drucker (A Proud Member)
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FEC heads toward shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just announced that the Senate will not clear four new appointees for the Federal Election Commission, meaning the panel that acts as a watchdog on political campaigns cannot function during the critical election-year period.

Reid is blaming the White House for refusing to withdraw to allow a majority vote on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for a seat on the commission. Republicans want von Spakovsky approved as part of a slate of four FEC nominees or they will refuse to consider any of the nominees.

Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) placed holds on von Spakovsky's nomination, meaning Republicans needed 60 votes to approve his nomination over Democratic objections.

Now, with the Senate moving toward adjournment until mid-January, Reid signalled that Democrats will not move any FEC nominations if they include von Spakovsky, meaning the commission will only have two of its required six members. Reid said he offered the GOP a straight majority vote on all the FEC nominees, including von Spakovsky, but the White House refused to accept that offer.

Mr. Reid has decided that he will have one person gavel the senate in session over the Christmas Holidays or Winter Break. No one will be there except the one person doing the gaveling. Webb from VA has been elected to do it the most because he lives close by. This is done so that Bush can't use the time for recess appointments because the Senate isnt in recess.

A voter comment: "The FEC is in its lingering existence into the '08 elections and not able to have as much oversight as they normally would. The Republicans win the election and the Dems say it was all a massive Bush conspiracy to eliminate the FEC in time to steal another election."

What do you think?

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Three Nader Ballot Access Cases from 2004 Are Still Alive

Three constitutional ballot access lawsuits filed by Ralph Nader in 2004 are still pending, in addition to his lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee for conspiring to keep him off as many ballots in 2004 as possible.

Nader’s Hawaii case will have a hearing in U.S. District Court on January 28, 2008. It challenges the practice of requiring an independent presidential candidate to obtain six times as many signatures as an entire new political party. It also challenges a lack of due process when Hawaii checks signatures on petitions.

His Ohio case is pending in the 6th circuit. It is Nader v Blackwell, and argues that past Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell should be held personally liable for permitting initiative petitions to be circulated by any adult, yet at the same time requiring independent candidate petitions to be circulated only by people who had been registered voters in an Ohio precinct for the previous 30 days. At the time, the law had identical requirements for initiative circulators and independent candidate circulators, yet Blackwell relaxed the law for initiatives, and not for Nader. It was obvious at the time that the law was unconstitutional, since in 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that states cannot force circulators to be registered voters.

Nader’s case against Arizona is pending in the 9th circuit. The oral argument will be in March, 2008, at the earliest. It challenges the early June independent presidential petition deadline (the 2nd earliest in the nation, after Texas’ deadline). It also challenges Arizona’s law that only in-state residents can circulate for an independent presidential candidate.

During this campaign I worked his book signing and fund raising at his Cooper Union speech in NY.

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Centrist Twins

This summer, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and California governer Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a few centrist photo ops. Now the project is to figure out if Schwarzenegger could be Bloomberg's running mate. The East Coast-West Coast alliance would have its advantages in the Electorial College.

Parts of the Constitution mentions that only a "natural-born Citizen.. shall be eligible for the Office of President." It does not mention the VP. Some say Bloomberg has lawyers studying things like "succession plans" to see how it works: would succession overlook the VP and put Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelios, in the President's seat.

Mayor Bloomberg's aides have been reaching out to consultants from his past campaigns about whether they are free for a possible 2008 White House bid - including one who helped make his slick mayoral TV spots. Bloomberg aides would look to lock up an ad team dovetails with what the mayor has privately told people about how he would spend up to $1 billion of his own fortune on an independent run, which would be played out mostly on the TV airwaves and through direct mail.

The mayor doesn't have to make a decision before March 5. That's the day after the Texas primary elections - but it's also the first date that nominating petitions for an independent candidate in the state can be circulated.

Michael H. Drucker
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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Question the Candidates

POLITICAL.com is hosting the ability to submit your questions to the candidates in their debates. The Republican Debate is Wednesday, January 30, 2008. The Democratic Debate is Thursday, January 31, 2008.

Use the above link to submit your questions.

Michael H. Drucker
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