The Philadelphia Inquirer of February 21 has this column by Michael Smerconish, a regular writer for the paper. He explains why he changed his registration to “independent”, after having been a registered Republican for 30 years. He had been a Republican delegate to the 1984 national convention. Thanks to Larry Otter for the link.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune has this column, by Bob Cuddy, about California’s Top-two Open Primary ballot measure. In the opinion of this blog, the Cuddy column is the best commentary yet written about Proposition 14. It makes a point that other commentary has not made. Why don’t politicians like Senator Abel Maldonado (author of the bill that put Prop. 14 on the ballot) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have the courage to become independent candidates, if they are so dissatisfied with their own parties? The column does not mention those two particular politicians specifically, but that is the implication.

On February 20, James Traficant said on his radio show that he is no longer a Democrat, that he is an independent, and that he may run for Congress this year. See this story. Thanks to Carter Momberger for the link. Traficant was a 9-term Democratic member of Congress from Ohio.

Also see this story, which says that Traficante is too late to get his name on any primary ballot in any event, but he is free to file as an independent if he does so by early May. He would need about 2,500 signatures in the typical U.S. House district.