Posted on 12/14/2008 6:55:56 PM PST by rabscuttle385
In his election-night victory speech, Barack Obama said he would be a president for all Americans, not just those who voted for him. But as a candidate he didn't campaign with equal vigor for every vote. Instead, he and John McCain devoted more than 98% of their television ad spending and campaign events to just 15 states which together make up about a third of the U.S. population. Today, as the Electoral College votes are cast and counted state-by-state, we will be reminded why. It is the peculiar mechanics of that institution, designed for a different age, that leave us divided into red states, blue states and swing states. That needs to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The demise of the U.S. Constitution is the leftist-globalist wet dream.
Better grab a rag. They are getting close!
He thinks he will be president to ALL Americans? Rubbish.
That joker will NEVER be my President.
I’ve seen it argued that junking the electoral college might actually take the massive power of the big left wing cities away.......Imagine New York City, LA and Chicago, not being the entire voting block of their entire state.
The libs hate it because they haven’t figured how to steal electoral votes yet.
If the Electoral College was abolished, the small States would become irrelevant in Presidential elections. Each ticket would solely focus on the States which it is sure to win. That would likely lead to secession movements in most, if not all, of those States. Fortunately, that is why any such proposed Constitutional amendment would never receive 38 ratifications (the number needed for adoption).
My guess is they will try to keep “winner take all” in NY and CA and have proportional representation in the Red States.
What am I missing? I thought Obama won.
Perhaps in light of recent events they’re worried he might not be re-elected?
Do we not already see this? McCain was already the republican nomination when my state finally voted, and we never saw a presidential candidate here.
As far as I could tell during the 2008 campaign, the only states where McCain campaigned were Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Colorado and did not bother the campaign in small states such as Delaware, Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota and Utah.
Furthermore, while McCain only lost the popular vote by 6% but lost the Electoral College by more than 2:1.
Thus as it stands now, the Electoral College favors the Democrats and popular vote would favor Republicans.
Hard to get dead electors to vote?
The election and subsequent financial mayhem proves this man correct.
Our Constitution has been neutered.
McCain did not lose because of the Electoral College. He lost because he ran a horribly bad campaign and for being a RINO. In the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Electoral College was to the benefit of George W. Bush. One election does not prove that the Electoral College should be abolished.
Regardless, it would mean the small states NEVER get their way as a rule, and they would be angry about it. The proportion of big-city Dem votes would possibly be much more than in electoral. It is electoral which makes them more likely to get something they want, rather than ALWAYS being at the mercy of big cities.
In my state of MD about 10 years ago, legislators from the Eastern Shore threatened to secede (and Western MDers would probably copy them) because it’s always the Baltimore-DCarea vote that wins the state, for every state-based election. This tiny proportion of the state rules the entire landscape, mostly because there is NO electoral-type system. Hence alot of disgruntlement and discontent amongst those who never get their way.
Haven’t you heard? The dismantling of our constitution is nothing but a nutjob conspiracy theory. Pay no attention to it.
[/sarc]
ditto!
Small states are already irrelevant in the general election. Unfortunately, many of the large states are as well (California, New York, Illinois). Abolishing the electoral college would force candidates to campaign nationwide. It would allow other coalitions to form, and make the GOTV efforts easier for the minority party in various states.
Perhaps this time Soros is right (hey, a broken clock...)
I repeat the poster who replied to you: it was the Electoral system that allowed Bush to win, especially in 2000. Remember how the Dems all wanted it gone because of this 1 instance? (As they always do: react like brats to 1 event - and then screw themselves in the end; to wit, Special Prosecuter, etc.)
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