Independents for Obama!

Hi BlueNC readers. First of all I wanted to introduce myself, as I’m new to the blog. My name is Gwen Mandell and I'm Director of Website Expansion for the national website www.independentvoting.org. It’s the website of the Committee for A Unified Independent Party (CUIP), which is a national organizing and support center for independent voters. The numbers of people identifying themselves as independents – about 40% - and the dissatisfaction with the state of the political process are growing in leaps and bounds these days and Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, in particular, has resonated loudly with many independents.

North Carolina is a pivotal state in the presidential primaries. Not only can Independents - “unaffiliated voters” - vote in the primary on Tuesday, May 6th, but it’s likely we will determine the winner!

In open primary states around the country, most independents have voted in the Democratic Primary, and most have voted for Obama. He’s gotten about 60% of the independent vote. It’s not surprising -- Obama says it’s time to move beyond the negative, partisan politics of the past -- and that’s something we independents strongly support. He says that change is going to come from the people, not from Washington, and we've been attempting to organize that movement from the ground up for a while now.

Tyra Cohen, a longtime independent activist in North Carolina got together with several other independent activists in the state to form North Carolina Indies for Change in order to reach out to independents about voting in the primary. CUIP did not endorse Obama (as it doesn’t endorse candidates), but has been providing political and financial support to the group, especially in order to make it possible for Cohen to do a targeted radio ad campaign around the state right before election day. The ad will be airing the weekend before the primary. As well, a number of independent activists from around the country are now calling independent voters in the state asking them to come out to vote for Obama on May 6th. The indie-to-indie connection, independents talking to other independents, has always been our biggest weapon.

Independents will be getting together on Saturday, April 26th to talk about how we can impact not only in this primary, but in the general election and beyond. The event is from 3-5 at the

Cliffdale Library
6883 Cliffdale Road
Fayetteville, NC 28314

For more information about North Carolina Indies for Change, folks can contact Tyra Cohen at: NCIndies4Change@aol.com or you can go to www.independentvoting.org to find out more about the independent movement. I would love to hear your thoughts about the role of independents both in North Carolina, in this election and nationally. I can be reached at gmandell@cuip.org.