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Cheryl Bynum admires John McCain so much that she did something for him she wouldn't do for just any politician. She became a Republican. "He's like your father or brother or someone you feel like you can trust," said Bynum, who lives in Knoxville. "He's the guy you call when you're in trouble." Bynum considers herself a political moderate and was registered as an Independent before McCain decided to run for president. But once he jumped into the race, Bynum changed her voter registration to Republican, did volunteer work for his campaign and got herself elected as a delegate to...

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) continues to hold a narrow lead over U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Pennsylvania, edging his Republican rival by 5 points in the race for the state's 21 electoral votes, according to a new poll. The Franklin & Marshall College poll, released today, surveyed 641 registered voters from Aug. 4-Aug. 10. While Obama led 44 percent to 36 percent among all survey respondents, he led 46 percent to 41 percent among likely voters. With both candidates securing support from a large majority of their party's voters, Obama's lead, significantly, comes from the support of almost...

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry blasted presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain for using video clips of Democrats’ past praise of McCain in a web-only campaign commercial released Thursday morning. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, called the Arizona senator “unrecognizable” and said he had “changed overnight.” In painting McCain as a maverick, the ad features a series of Democrats — Kerry, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Sen. Russell Feingold and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. — talking up the Republican nominee as a bipartisan deal-maker and all-around good guy. Daschle: “He can work...

In an effort to highlight his "maverick" history of bipartisianship, John McCain has released this campaign ad. The ad features prominent democratic leaders praising McCain for his courage, honesty, and ability to reach across the aisle. http://election.newsmax.com/mccain_praise.html?s=al&promo_code=6772-1

Hillary Clinton's critics said her strident attacks on Barack Obama would return as Republican fodder, and it came to pass Thursday as she made her debut in an ad for White House hopeful John McCain.

The wounds were still fresh from his damaging defeat in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 5 when Mitt Romney was looking for a way to regain momentum heading into the New Hampshire primary. On that cold morning at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, Romney stood beside an illuminated sign that unveiled his retooled message: "Washington Is Broken." “We face extraordinarily challenges that we have heard the politicians talk about for decades without getting anything done,” Romney said on that day. “And it is finally time to have somebody go to Washington who is not a lifelong politician...

John McCain's message machine shifted gears today -- after a week or so of offbeat efforts to annoy and exasperate Barack Obama, the Republican's campaign launched a new bid to distance himself from the titular head of his own party. A 60-second McCain television ad airing in several of this year's key battleground states seeks to both remind voters of the "maverick" image that gained him national prominence and undercut arguments that he's a President Bush clone. Indeed, the spot's third sentence offers this starkly negative assessment of the incumbent's second term: "We’re worse off than we were four years...

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released its latest television ad, entitled "Broken." The ad highlights John McCain's record of taking on the special interests in Washington. The ad will air in key states. VIEW THE AD HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylJkmMR8Fek Script For "Broken" (TV :60) ANNCR: Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago. Only McCain has taken on big tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties. He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again. He's the original maverick. One is ready to lead -- McCain....

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s (Ariz.) latest television ad says that the country is in worse shape now than it was before President Bush began his second term. “Washington’s broken. John McCain knows it,” the ad says. “We’re worse off than we were four years ago.” The ad, titled “Broken,” shows that McCain is, at least in part, running away from President Bush’s record and looking to win favor with the centrist voters who have supported him in the past. The ad, which is slated to run in key states, comes after Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) made...

It was only eight years ago that Joe Lieberman was the toast of the Democratic Party. As Al Gore's running mate during the 2000 presidential election, nary a bad word could be said about the Connecticut senator. Few questioned his Democratic credentials. Few questioned his fidelity to the Democratic Party. Though open minded on some issues, he was a Democrat's Democrat. Oh, how times have changed. "There's hardly any sense in which [Joe] Lieberman is an independent figure," writes Jonathan Chait in a recent article in The New Republic magazine. "He's become a cog in the Republican message machine."

In a Reuters-Zogby Poll released on Wednesday, Independent voters favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 22% margin. McCain has repeatedly reached out to Independents by taking center-left positions on issues that are vital to Conservatives. McCain's efforts have demoralized the Conservative base of the Republican Party and, thus far, have failed to attract Independent voters.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama opens the general election campaign with a narrow lead over Republican John McCain but the two score near even among independent voters, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

...In the first Washington Post-ABC News poll since the Democratic nomination contest ended, Obama and McCain are even among political independents, a shift toward the presumptive Republican nominee over the past month. On the issues, independents see McCain as more credible on fighting terrorism and are split evenly on who is the stronger leader and better on the Iraq war. But on other key attributes and issues -- including the economy -- Obama has advantages among independents. The presumptive Democratic nominee emerged from his primary-season battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with improved personal ratings overall, but with no appreciable...

A new national study conducted among 310 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents indicated that after viewing segments of Senator McCain's remarks at the AIPAC Meeting in Washington DC earlier today, there was modest movement of support for Senator John McCain. The study was conducted by HCD Research and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) earlier today to obtain Americans' perceptions of video segments of Senator McCain's remarks in Washington DC this morning. While viewing segments of the speech, participants indicated their levels of agreement by moving their mouse from left to right on a continuum. The responses were...

A new focus group finds that independent voters who haven't cast ballots in the presidential primaries but who will be a crucial bloc in the general election don't know much about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, despite his many months of campaigning. And they don't like much of what they have heard. "Obama has been defined to a large extent by his association with Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright [his controversial former pastor] or a narrative of his background to which they do not relate," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. Seven of the 12 focus-group participants believed that 0bama is a Muslim....

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain's game plan for beating Democrat Barack Obama rests on one huge assumption: Despite an unpopular war, an uncertain economy and the GOP's beleaguered status, the country still leans more to the right than to the left. "There are going to be stark choices between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican," McCain says at nearly every turn as he seeks to portray Obama as out of step with the nation. The more the GOP nominee-in-waiting can frame the debate along those lines, and capture a larger chunk of the electorate's center, the better his chance...

Date: May 15, 2008 Listening this morning to Sen. John McCain outlining his plans as president, should he win the November election, I wanted to shout things like, “Drill in Anwar, you moron!” and “Liberals are liars – we don’t want you to work with these leftist lunatics!” It has become clear that, like President George W. Bush, instead of leading the country into true conservative policies, Sen. McCain is another wimpy Republican who tries to combine radical social engineering politics from the left with a few watered-down Republican, conservative principles. Some Republicans have been calling people like Bush and...

Soul searching Republicans are turning to an unlikely savior, one-time party heretic and now presumptive White House nominee John McCain, as they try to stave off an electoral disaster. Stung by the Democratic seizure of three staunch conservative seats in Congress, Republican lawmakers fear a shellacking in November's general election, after losing control of both chambers of Congress in 2006. The rise of McCain as their champion is not without irony, since the 71-year-old Arizona senator has quarreled with his own party for years on issues as diverse as immigration, campaign finance reform and global warming. But it is precisely...

(CNN) -- Kicking off a week-long push seen as outreach to independent and Democratic voters in crucial swing states, John McCain on Monday will deliver a speech outlining his vision for combating global warming. "We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say in Portland, Oregon, according to prepared remarks. "The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." McCain's commitment to fight global warming puts him at odds with some Republicans in Congress and with the Bush administration, which...

We are part of the many Democrats that will definitely vote for John McCain if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination to run for president. We would love to have our economy and national image restored to at least what it was during the Clinton years of presidency, but Barack Obama is not the answer. Obama speaks politics and not what he believes. He only says what he must to win. Actions speak louder than words. He does not respect America -- won't wear a flag on his lapel, won't put his hand over his heart during the pledge of...

Faced with a crumbling Republican Party image, Sen. John McCain is gambling on a general-election strategy that relies on winning over conservative Democrats and independents, breaking with President Bush's 2000 and 2004 game plan of focusing on the party's core voters. "This time, we are working to get a larger share than normal of independents and conservative Democrats, mainly because our own base is narrower than four years ago," said McCain campaign senior adviser Charles Black, who has been a part of every GOP presidential campaign since Ronald Reagan's nomination run in 1976. The Arizona senator has spent his time...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is proposing a greater federal commitment to people without health insurance on Tuesday, suggesting that it help funds states to set up non-profit risk pools to help Americans who are denied coverage or can’t afford it. McCain’s health-policy experts provided a ballpark estimate of $7 billion a year for the new federal commitment. “Cooperation among states in the purchase of insurance would … be a crucial step in ridding the market of both needless and costly regulations, and the dominance in the market of only a few insurance companies,” McCain says in remarks prepared for delivery...

IN THE PAST YEAR, I have spoken to almost 30 groups in Marin and Sonoma as resident political pundit. I am inevitably asked to predict the presidential nominees and the winner in November. Starting in early 2007, I made the same predictions that I make today. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee and Sen. John McCain will be the next president. In the overwhelming Democratic North Bay, this generally is met with gasps of disagreement. I always emphasize that I don't personally advocate this scenario. The questioners are asking for my prediction - not my preference. I concluded...

Can a Republican presidential candidate win Massachusetts? In most years, because of the state's dark blue reputation, the answer clearly would be no. But if the race is between John McCain and Barack Obama, there is an opportunity for a Republican to claim Massachusetts's 12 electoral votes. This opportunity exists because of the respective appeal of McCain and Obama to the true dominant political "party" in Massachusetts - the independents.

Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama's 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday. The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee. McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama....

Republican strategists are dreaming of a return of the Reagan Democrat in the form of the McCain crossover voter........ Given how much is on the line for the Democrats, it's curious that as John McCain returned from a diplomatic tour of Europe and the Middle East, Barack Obama was on his way home from a tropical vacation. The friendly November playing field that the Democrats anxiously awaited not long ago is tilting more and more towards McCain, whose crossover appeal and "maverick" image are likely the perfect antidote to the star power of the Democratic candidates. New poll numbers show...

Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton’s efforts to reunite the Democratic Party — and get the votes of some independent voters — could become tougher than ever with news that former President Bill Clinton appeared on conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s show…on the day of the Texas primary. If the story catches on, it will likely strike a decidedly sour note with many Democrats — and adds to the increasing instances in this campaign that anything will be done to get votes. Why? Because Limbaugh is considered the quintessential demonizer of Democrats by Democrats and this means the former President was...

[snip] And at that time, the news media were still lavishing love on Obama. That situation is about to end. "He's the fashion plate of the moment," an editorial page editor remarked, "but fashion week is over." Sophisticated commentary now notes the growing creepiness of the Obama campaign: Its aversion to substantive policy discussions. The sermonizing -- "In the face of despair, we believe there can be hope." And the messianic bit -- "At this moment in the election there is something happening in America." (That would be he.) Volunteer trainees at Camp Obama are told not to talk issues...

WASHINGTON - More than half the states holding presidential contests next month on Super Tuesday allow unaffiliated voters to participate, giving millions of independents a chance to shape what is usually an insider affair among Democratic and Republican loyalists. Two of those states -- California and New Jersey -- together have nearly 6 million unaffiliated voters who will be allowed to cast ballots in the Feb. 5 contests. The open voting is widely considered to benefit Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, who have fared well among independents in recent polls and primaries.

Senator Hillary Clinton has hit the ground on the attack, but her problem is 40% percent of New Hampshire voters are independent and nonaligned. The have been packing into everyone of Obama’s events at this point. And if this movement continues, Clinton loses big in this state.

He's frustrated with Washington gridlock and has money to burn - and next week, Mayor Bloomberg will meet with well-connected Democrats and Republicans who could help launch him as an independent presidential candidate. The Jan. 7 meeting at the University of Oklahoma will include an array of current and former politicians who aren't considering a run on their own but who just might get behind someone with the clout and cash to join the fray at this late date.

He's frustrated with Washington gridlock and has money to burn - and next week, Mayor Bloomberg will meet with well-connected Democrats and Republicans who could help launch him as an independent presidential candidate. The Jan. 7 meeting at the University of Oklahoma will include an array of current and former politicians who aren't considering a run on their own but who just might get behind someone with the clout and cash to join the fray at this late date.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said Sunday "the political pendulum is swinging" against his party, and Republicans needs to work harder to win over independent voters. "Everybody knows what's at stake next year, but I wonder if we've come to terms with the difficulty we've got as Republicans, and the fact that we're going to have to do a lot of things very well to prevail," the former Tennessee senator said. What the Republican Party needs, Thompson said, is to nominate a candidate like himself who can "go before the American people and ask for the vote...

WASHINGTON - Michael Brooks is exactly the kind of voter the Republican Party can ill afford to lose. But in a foreboding omen for 2008, it may have already done just that. The auto parts store worker from St. Charles, Mo., says he used to be a Republican but felt abandoned and is now an independent. "For some reason or other, they didn't seem to be for the masses anymore," said Brooks, 59, citing a lack of help for middle-income earners. He said he voted for George W. Bush in 2000, thinking the Republican was "more middle of the road,...

Mainly because President Bush and his Republican cohorts are so wishy-washy when it comes to the plague of illegal aliens, I am hearing from a lot of disgruntled conservatives who are threatening to vote for Democrats in November. I suspect that not too many of them will actually carry out their threat to cut off their nose to spite their face. But I do believe that if the GOP continues to play follow-the-leader with the lemming who presently occupies the White House, come November, conservative voters will stay home in droves. As foolish and as gutless as I consider the...

Would Jesus Be a Democrat or a Republican? by Noel Sheppard 14 January 2005 As soon as one side believes that it possesses a monopoly on religion, doesn’t religion fail? I recently had an opportunity to discuss some religious issues with the Reverend Ray Dubuque, a retired Methodist minister who now spreads the word of the Lord largely over the Internet. As I researched the Reverend, his background, and his perspectives in preparation for our appearance together on Alan Colmes’ radio program, I realized that his overall position concerning politics and how they relate to theology had some glaring economic...

SOCIAL STUDIES Where The Missing Middle Went By Jonathan Rauch, National Journal © National Journal Group Inc. Friday, Feb. 17, 2006 In 1992, the political scientist Raymond E. Wolfinger of the University of California (Berkeley), along with five of his students, published The Myth of the Independent Voter, a book that posed a challenge to -- well, to people like me. For some time, I've been saying that the key to American politics is in the center. Independents make up about a third of the electorate, yet are neglected by the two increasingly extreme major parties. Whichever party manages to...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly 16 million Californians are eligible to vote in Tuesday's special election, and almost one-fifth of them are registered as independents, according to figures released Wednesday. The number of registered voters represents a slight increase from the 2003 recall election that elevated Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governor's seat. The secretary of state's office said 15.9 million - 70.7 percent of the state's eligible adults - registered to vote by the Oct. 24 deadline. That's up from the 15.4 million Californians who were registered to vote in the 2003 special election that recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected...

AUGUSTA — Democratic House leaders on Friday played down the potential impact of a decision by a representative to quit their party and go independent, a move that further narrows the already-close partisan breakdown in the House. Rep. Thomas Saviello of Wilton said he decided to drop his Democratic affiliation after consulting with his family and friends. Saviello said the decision to drop his party registration and become independent is best for his constituents and the rural area he represents. "We have special challenges and needs in District 90 that need to be talked about and addressed in Augusta. I...

This time Dornan, 72, is weighing whether to abondon the GOP and run as a candidate for the America Independent Party.

More than a decade ago, when Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani embraced Marxist ideology, they could not persuade even the Rev. Al Sharpton to run under the banner of their fringe political party in his 1992 Senate bid. Mr. Sharpton, seeking to gain legitimacy as a candidate, began distancing himself from the two and from their New Alliance Party, as questions about his past association with them threatened to undermine his campaign and his credibility. But in recent years, Dr. Fulani and Dr. Newman have found many of the state's top political leaders eager to court their latest organization, the...

Yesterday I received a flyer in the mail for "independent voters" (not registered to a party) and I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of this outfit? There is no phone, no web address, only: Voter information Guide, 13701 Riverside Dr. Suite 604, Sherman Oaks, Ca 91423. From President to local issues, it is ALL democrat. Suggests only Kerry, Boxer, Mike Johnson, D for congressional rep., etc. In part it says: USE this guide when voting by mail or take it to the polls. Evaluations and recommendations by : American Goverment Professors, Environmental Leaders, Nurses and Health Care Workers, Classroom...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) The only independent in the U.S. Senate has written to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader asking him to drop his campaign in the final days of the race. Sen. James Jeffords said in a letter that the race is so close in several states that Nader's continued campaigning could tip the outcome.

CAMPAIGN 2004 Kerry's big lead in state shrinks President ahead among coveted independents President Bush has begun eroding John Kerry's support among a key constituency of independent voters, but the Massachusetts Democrat still holds a significant edge over the incumbent in Illinois, a new Tribune/WGN-Ch. 9 poll shows. The survey of 700 registered voters also indicates the Republican National Convention helped showcase Bush to the state's electorate while Kerry struggled in its aftermath to formulate a political message. Support for Kerry in the state now has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in the lengthy campaign while the...

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), who holds a sizable lead in some polls, still appears to be vulnerable to Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) among independent voters whose shifting loyalties could determine the winner of the November election, pollsters say

The Passion of the Independent Voter On my part, the passion I have, for the side I find myself on this year, derives directly from two indelible experiences I have had. The first was in 1993, when as a 19-year-old kid on the second day of my first corporate job, I escaped the first bombing of the World Trade Center. The second was during and after 9/11, when I became more familiar with the smell of vaporized human flesh than I ever wanted to be. These experiences, and the study of geopolitics - especially Middle East politics - have impressed...

The focus group gathered by pollster Frank Luntz appeared to like Zell’s speech better than Cheney's. They're describing it as, "stronger... focused on the family... dead on, convincing coming from a Democrat." Then there’s one woman: “His entire focus was on terrorism and why we should be afraid.” The "spitballs" line got a big laugh. The focus group seemed to like the line, and many thought it illustrated a serious point well. Cheney’s line about “as if al-Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side” did well with his group, and in particular, "He declared at the Democratic Convention that...

7:41 p.m. August 30, 2004 NEW YORK – Four years after he was an embittered and defeated candidate forced to endure the convention coronation of the man who beat him, it was a revived and reinvigorated Sen. John McCain who came to the aid of President Bush Monday night at the opening session of the Republican National Convention. He was joined in that task by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, himself only eight years removed from being such a pariah inside his own party that his home state Republicans pointedly refused to invite him to the GOP convention in...

Independent voters sue Democrats, alleging conspiracy against Nader Friday August 27, 2004 By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) A group of independent voters sued John Kerry and the Democratic National Committee Friday, saying they were conspiring to stifle the presidential campaign of independent Ralph Nader and prevent creation of a third political party.The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan was Lenora B. Fulani, New York Independence Party leader. Other plaintiffs were described as political independents and Nader supporters.The lawsuit alleged that Republicans and Democrats have used their position of dominance in...

The anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterns for Turth that provoked the US political furor yesterday distributed a second commercial to the news media and said it would begin airing the ad in the swing states of Pennsylvania and New Mexico.The ad intersperses clips of a youthful Kerry talking about war atrocities during an appearance before the US Congress in 1971 with images of veterans condemning his testimony.The manuvering came as new polling offered the first hints that the questioning of Kerry's service in the Vietnam War were taking a political toll. One poll found that more than half of voters...