The 2008 presidential election was a historic one and independent voters, who comprised a remarkable 29% of the total electorate, played a vital role in the primaries and the general election. As a result, a new national conversation is underway and including the voice of independents is more important than ever.

A snapshot of what independents accomplished in this election:

• Independents broke for Obama by an 8 point margin. Obama received 52% of the independent vote and McCain 44%. Four years earlier, in 2004, independents split 49-48 between John Kerry and George Bush.

• The 2008 presidential election was the first time that independents empowered the Democrats into the White House (In 1972, a majority of independents also cast their vote for the Democrat, but the candidate was badly defeated). Given that shift, and given that the Democrat was Barack Obama, an African American progressive candidate, its safe to say that independent voters are now more center-left than center-right.

• Another notable change in the demographics of independent voters, which is very important to look at: 6% of the overall electorate were independents of color and more than 70% of those chose Barack Obama. It is estimated that more than 20% or 1 in 5 of the independents who voted for Obama are people of color.

• Independent voters in the 33 states w/ open primaries and caucuses gave Obama his margin of victory over Hillary Clinton. Put another way, if those primaries had been closed rather than open, or if independent voters had gone Right rather than Left, the results would have been very different. Obama was the first Democrat in history to win his party’s nomination because of the support from an outsider force.

• There were a number of “battleground” states, in which independents broke for Obama: in PA, 58% of independents backed him. In Florida, 52%, in New Hampshire, 59%. In NM, 56% and NV 54%. In Indiana, which has voted Republican for 44 years straight, 54% of independents backed Obama, playing a key role in Obama’s 1 pt victory over John McCain.

• There were several states that John McCain won, where Obama still carried the majority of independents. Even in Arizona, McCain’s home state, 51% backed Obama, a reminder of how much McCain sacrificed his own history as a maverick to independents to be the Republican nominee.

• 18.6 million independents cast ballots for Obama, which nearly equals the 19 million votes cast for Perot in 1992 when the modern day independent voter burst onto the scene. But, independent voting has become more progressive, more multi-racial, and more influential in American politics.

A new tactic has emerged for organizing independents. We’re not building political parties, but different kinds of associations and organizations of independent voters. We are pursuing an organizing tactic that takes initiative from the bottom up and doesn’t wait for a big name or big money to come along. That approach has enabled us as leaders and independents in general to become much more influential.

The American people voted for Change. With the economy in serious trouble and the new administration faced with some gargantuan challenges, if we are to creatively address our problems as a nation and reform the political culture, then independents must be included every step of the way.

Gwen
www.independentvoting.org

You would never know from watching the media that at least 1/3 of the country (and some polls, e.g. the recent Wall Street Journal poll, say 42%) are independent. The two parties relate to us as if we can't make up our minds (undecided) or exist for their purpose (swing voters), but every independent I've spoken to (and myself, as well) have very clear opinions about why we're independents. We might differ ideologically, but most folks I speak with (and I speak with lots) don't like partisanism and are concerned about the future of the direction of this country. Of course, our challenge is to project ourselves as a political force to be reckoned with. I think lots of these top-down folks are missing the fact that there's a growing movement in this country and lots of ways that independents are beginning to express ourselves.

Gwen
www.independentvoting.org

Well, one can argue that candidate options haven't been sufficiently created (you named a handful, but...) but I was referring to the conditions for independents (and here, I'm not limiting independents to people who only vote for independent candidates) to create a new kind of politic in this country, where the playing field is fair (Nader spent the majority of his time and energy trying to stay on the ballot because not only did he have to collect millions of more sigs than the Democratic and Republican candidates; then he had to fight state by state to withstand the Democrats trying to throw him off the ballot) and the whole gamut of viewpoints see the light of day.

That's not evidence of satisfaction. That's evidence that the choices stink and that others haven't been sufficiently created.

Dr. Newman did not invent the relationship between politics and psychology, although I would beg to differ that his approach "combines" the two. He's helped build many kinds of institutions, but all of these organizations are separate, have their own bases and their own work. I think the "cult" accusation is ridiculous. Are there several hundred people who devote a good portion of their energy and lives to building these organizations? Yes. Is that a cult? Well, then you'd have to include the Democratic Party as one also, then.

Yes, reliably doctrinaire is a good way of describing these organizations you refer to. Politics is not clean. If you're going to impact and change things, you've got to tactically find ways to engage things. I wouldn't describe the building of various organizations "finding a niche" - I think it's more accurately characterized as building what has to be built at a particular moment which is relevant and will advance our movement for change. The New Alliance Party (and Fulani's first run for presidency in which she became the first woman and African American in US History to get on the ballot in all 50 States), led to the work in coalition with other independents in the Reform Party, where we learned alot about building a non-ideological political reform movement, and so on.

Steve and others - I would be happy to discuss any aspect of CUIP's history with you.

The evidence shows otherwise - 35% of the electorate choose to be independent in a system that puts a lot of pressure on them to be Democrat or Republican. Half the country doesn't vote. What binds independents together are our dislike of partisanism and belief that the political process is broken. The challenge is building the conditions for people to be able to express that dissatisfaction, and one reason why Fred Newman, Lenora Fulani and many others who I work with have been able to build some successful organizations (very modest, in terms of what we need to build, but nevertheless, impressive), is that we have devoted the hour by hour, day by day efforts (in terms of labor, fundraising and everything else it takes) to do that. Some people (mostly "the Talking Left" who are more interested in being "right" and "clean" than building anything) don't like Fulani and Newman - they've stepped out of the box to do something different. We can talk about our disagreements all we want but if we don't have any power to determine public policy, it's useless. Politicians know this - they're professionals at using issues people are passionate about and racialistm as political footballs.

Obviously, the history on Fulani and Newman is out there for anyone and everyone to look at. However, all you have to do is look at what they (we) have built and are doing now to get a sense (www.allstars.org, www.independentvoting.org, www.ipnyc.org,independentvoice.org, civca.org, www.independenttexans.org, www.castillo.org, www.socialtherapygroup.com, www.eastsideinstitute.org to give you just a few places to go) - or of course you can read the garbage put out by their detractors, who spend all of their time criticizing and attacking. (Serious people know that you don't get attacked unless you are building something that's threatening) - In my opinion, that's a waste of time, but then again some people have plenty of it.

By the way, I was Fulani's aide for years. I'm a first-hand source - oh yeah, and like some of her closest colleagues, I'm Jewish (but then again, everyone knows that the "anti-semitic" claim is a political ploy)

I support the sentiment of what you're raising fully! In fact, I spend much of my time doing the hard work that it takes to build an up-from-the ground movement that would give expression to "We the People" being able to vote for ourselves, but I think the serious question is how do we continue to create that movement that expresses it, and while I'm not at all saying there's a right way and a wrong way - there are endless creative ways to do this - I think the process issues and barriers that make it difficult for "We the people" to prevail have to be engaged in an ongoing way. What does the activity look like that we would organize even handfuls, let alone hundreds or thousands of people to do what you are saying? I am currently working on a letter-writing campaign to stop corruption in the debates and simply asking people to write a letter to some of the journalists who have begun to talk about the possibility of an independent candidacy, pointing out to them the barriers which make it difficult for any serious candidacy to emerge - one big one being the debates (see www.independentvoting.org) - This is just one effort which seeks to push the envelope on this issue. As I said, I support your sentiment 1000% - Lets talk about how to work together to make that mechanism a possibility, and not just an idea.

Gwen
www.independentvoting.org