Charlie Cook, famous political analyst, has this column at National Journal, on the difference between independent voters and moderate voters. He highlights what had already been reported, that in the November 2012 election, Mitt Romney carried independent voters by a margin of 50%-45%, with 5% of independents voting for minor party presidential nominees.

But, President Obama carried moderate voters, 56%-41%, with 3% of moderates voting for minor party presidential nominees.

In the U.S. House races, independents supported Republicans more than Democrats by 7%, but moderates supported Democrats more than Republicans by 16%.

These figures make it clear that independent voters and moderate voters are not the same. This fact ought to be faced by the California business community, the Chamber of Commerce, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and the editors of most of California’s large daily newspapers, all of whom constantly told the public in 2010 that independents and moderates are the same people and that only a top-two system would enhance the power of moderates. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

The California State Senate Elections Committee for the upcoming legislative session consists of four Democrats and only one Republican. The chair, Lou Correa (Santa Ana) was also the chair in the last session. The other Democrats are Loni Hancock (Berkeley), Leland Yee (San Francisco) and Alex Padilla (Los Angeles). The Republican is Joel Anderson (San Diego County). Thanks to Paula Lee for this news.

The new Ballot Access News logo was designed by Matt Garsteck, and I wish to thank him for his good work, which was pro bono. Also thanks to Julia Kohn and Christina Tobin, who arranged for the work to be done, and to Malcolm Garris and Eric Garris for their part.

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