Posted on 03/07/2012 8:50:43 AM PST by Republican Wildcat
(UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL VIDEO) A national group that wants the popular vote not the electoral college to decide presidential races began airing an ad in Kentucky cable markets targeting U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader.
The 30-second spot paid for by the group Support Popular Vote urges Kentuckians to send Mitch a message because McConnell has opposed the concept of moving to a national popular vote system for the presidential race.
The ad is airing in Time Warner markets across Kentucky. cn|2 is a division of Time Warner.
During a December speech to the Heritage Foundation, McConnell called it dangerous and absurd because it could result in triggering an expensive recount across all 50 states if the vote tallies are close, according to MSNBC.
The ad began airing Tuesday just as state Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, was set to testify in front of a state House committee about her bill that would add Kentucky to the list of eight states and Washington, D.C., that would decide the presidential race by total votes, not electoral college votes.
The popular vote system would prevail once states with at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes sign on.
The Support Popular Vote has attracted bipartisan support. Among its co-chairs are McConnells former Republican U.S. Senate colleague Fred Thompson and Chet Culver, the former Democratic governor of Iowa.
It is headed up by Tom Golisano, a New York businessman and former owner of the Buffalo Sabres, who visited Kentucky last spring to meet with Palumbo and others, including Gov. Steve Beshear, to drum up support for the effort.
Golisano and proponents of the movement say a popular vote would force presidential candidates to campaign in more states instead of the dozen or so swing states, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida that have been key battlegrounds in recent presidential races.
In addition, the group points to the four presidential races, in which the candidate with the most total votes across the country failed to win because the electoral college math favored the other candidate.
Golisano said during the interview that there could be three different effects of moving to a popular vote on how campaigns would be run
http://mycn2.com/politics/group-s-ad-slams-mcconnell-for-opposing-a-change-to-how-presidential-races-are-decided?commented=0#txpCommentInputForm
You can find a link to the ad on the original article.
The rationale provided is completely absurd on face - as though anyone would care about the votes of the people of Kentucky when large cities engulf its entire population and those of other entire states. Also completely ignores the fact we are a nation of states, and the President is the President of all of the states - hence why he/she is elected by the states and we vote as citizens of our respective states in separate state elections.
They want mob rule.
>>>Golisano and proponents of the movement say a popular vote would force presidential candidates to campaign in more states instead of the dozen or so swing states, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida that have been key battlegrounds in recent presidential races.<<<
I can’t decide whether this guy and his supporters are fools or just plain stupid. A popular vote would mean that a candidate would just have to campaign and gather votes in a few areas of concentrated population while leaving the rest of us to rot. The guy above me who said they want mob rule is 100 percent correct.
It’s so much easier to fake the popular vote when you own the census. You can ignore the conservative states just like Obama ignores congress.
The electoral college was supposed to protect us from idiots. Alibi it has failed a couple of times, we at least don’t have a complete dictatorship, yet.
They want to rename the President of the United States to the President of America.
They want to change the pledge to say "And to the Nation" from "And to the REPUBLIC"
Chances of amending the Constitution to allow this: zero.
this has to be another George Soros-funded skunkworks operation like the Secretaries of State Project.
Agreed.
The republic is an outdated concept which needs to adapt.
It should become, “The Republic” and its neighbor, Crapistan. (There might even be some land left over in the west for, Sodomorrha.)
The Electoral College concept firewalls the effects of voter fraud in the large cities to that particular state.
For a mathematical proof of the merits of the Electoral College, read Math Against Tyranny.
And mob rule they will have.
But it won't be the Skittles and Unicorns they envision.
The Gods of the Copybook Headings, with terror and slaughter return.
Not exactly. Our Framers assumed most elections would end up in the House of Representatives. There is no "crisis" if it ends up there.
Our republic suffers from too much democracy, not too little.
As it stands NY state has 54 Electoral Votes whether NYC has the 8 Million citizens that live there vote or if 18 Million “voters” show up at the Polls. With the change they are seeking. The phony 10 Million count.
>>They’re already doing it through a constitutional sidestep.
Done what?
Not a “fait accompli” yet, but they’re developing a “National Popular Vote” scam to circumvent the Electoral College.
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