For what it’s worth, the “true swing independent” voters seem to have a lot of the characteristics that Beltway Pundits so often ascribe to independents generally, or to swing voters generally, or indeed, to that great abstraction “the American people:” they don’t like partisanship, they wish the parties would compromise, they’re worried about the deficit, they don’t much like big changes in the entitlement programs, they’re moderate on social issues and conservative on fiscal issues, etc., etc. There just aren’t a whole lot of them. But Lord-a-mercy, they sure have a lot of representation in the chattering classes!
It's quite possible persuadable true swing independent voters are, in fact, the people campaigns need to target (as opposed to mobilizing base voters to actually vote). I don't have any special knowledge about that. But it is fascinating that our punditocracy, who claim expertise about politics, strive to pretend to represent the people who have the least expertise.
I'm not insulting these people. It's fine to be a bit stupid about politics. There are limited hours in the day, after all.
Ed's wrong on one thing: fearing big changes in entitlement programs has no representation in the chattering classes.