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GOP Moves to Scrap Winner-Take-All Voting
Newser ^ | Jan 25, 2013 | Mark Russell

Posted on 01/26/2013 11:45:40 AM PST by Baynative

Republicans in swing states that went for President Obama are pushing for a big change in how the Electoral College works, reports the Washington Post. The idea is to apportion electoral votes according to congressional district, instead of the winner-take-all system that most states employ. In Virginia, for example, the difference would be dramatic—Obama would have taken only four of the state's 13 electoral votes in 2012.

(Excerpt) Read more at newser.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Kansas; US: Maine; US: Pennsylvania; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: badidea; elections; electoralcollege; gop; winnertakeall
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To: redgolum

The House is generally more conservative than the Senate because of its more granular level of representation.


101 posted on 01/26/2013 8:59:17 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: jjotto

Obama won every Congressional District in Nevada?


102 posted on 01/27/2013 12:22:10 AM PST by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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To: kabar

Meanwhile back on planet earth both Gov. McDonnell and VA GOP Gov candidate Cuccinelli are opposed to the plan. Sell crazy elsewhere.


103 posted on 01/27/2013 2:30:35 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: RIghtwardHo

“Can’t we just have good candidates?”

Megabump. This stupid policy is RNC laziness personified.


104 posted on 01/27/2013 2:35:57 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: G Larry

this country was designed to keep all politics local...

this changed with the 17th amendment..

I see this as a return to local power...

I am for it wholeheartedly


105 posted on 01/27/2013 5:04:06 AM PST by joe fonebone (The clueless... they walk among us, and they vote...)
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To: KantianBurke
Meanwhile back on planet earth both Gov. McDonnell and VA GOP Gov candidate Cuccinelli are opposed to the plan. Sell crazy elsewhere.

Crazy? The Constitution allows states to allocate their electoral votes anyway they want. Two, Maine and Nebraska, don't have a winner take all system. The GOP would be wise in the state of Virginia to do the same.

McDonnell is by no means a conservative. He has taken positions that try to appeal to the "middle" in order to further his future political ambitions. Two efforts that I have been involved with at the state level and dealing with the General Assembly, photo ID to vote and e-verify, McDonnell has been a stumbling block. He has also proposed a major tax increase to fund transportation.

Cuccinelli is running for governor this year. He is not going to support something that might cost him votes. The Dems will make it a big issue to rally their forces in an election that will be held in a non-Presidental year. He will be demonized for many other things, so he is not about to add to it. If we allocate electoral votes by Cong. Dist and give the two Senate ones to the candidate that wins the most Congressional districts, Romney would have won 10 of VA's 13 electoral votes.

The Democrats have been pushing nationally for direct election of a President and have supported efforts to circumvent the Constitution with state compacts. It is called National Popular Vote. Nine state legislatures and governors have signed on comprising 132 electoral votes.

The Reps are fools. They have refused to fight the Dems using the same methods being used against them. Now that is crazy.

106 posted on 01/27/2013 7:11:15 AM PST by kabar
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To: PubliusMM

It is wholly a state issue, even though it impacts a federal election.


107 posted on 01/27/2013 9:13:19 AM PST by nd76
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To: kabar

Forget it. The media narrative “the Republicans are trying to change the rules because they can’t win fair and square” has already been set in concrete.


108 posted on 01/30/2013 9:21:17 AM PST by fractionated
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To: KantianBurke
This stupid policy is RNC laziness personified.

It's worse than laziness -- it makes the party look like sore losers.

Rance Prebius is such a pathetic excuse for a leader that he makes Michael Steele look like George Washington.

109 posted on 01/30/2013 9:23:20 AM PST by fractionated
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To: kabar

Nonsense. Stepping across an imaginary line on a map can’t turn a good idea into a bad idea or vice versa.


110 posted on 01/30/2013 9:30:19 AM PST by fractionated
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To: re_nortex

Obviously, county level is absurd — there are counties where you could fit the entire population into a Motel Six.


111 posted on 01/30/2013 9:31:25 AM PST by fractionated
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To: fractionated
Nonsense. Stepping across an imaginary line on a map can’t turn a good idea into a bad idea or vice versa.

Obviously, you are missing the point. The objective of the GOP is to get back the WH. They should use whatever tools are at their disposal to achieve that goal.

The 2012 election demonstrated that we are now at a tipping point. We reelected a failed President who defied political gravity including high unemployment, a huge increase in our national debt, and slow economic growth. No President in our history has ever been reelected with this kind of record.

Obama was reelected because of the rapidly changing demographics of this country fueled by immigration and higher minority birthrates. The electoral map shows that states like VA and FL are purple trending blue. You can toss in Colorado, Nevada, NM, and even AZ.

If the Reps can use their power in swing states to change the way electoral votes are allocated--much like what is already being done in Maine and Nebraska--they have an opportunity to make Presidential elections more competitive, at least in the short term. Demographically, we are living on borrowed time. By 2019 half of the children under 18 are minorities and by 2042 half of the country will be minorities as defined by the USG. Toss in more and more Americans being dependent upon Big Government and you have the recipe for the Dems being the permanent majority party for generations to come, if they are not already.

Unless the GOP decides to fight back with every tool at its disposal, they are finished. We are becoming a center left country. If we can't get control of the national levers of policymaking, we will continue to lose elections nationally.

In the meantime, the Dems and their useful idiot RINO allies are pushing for direct election of the President nullifying the electoral college. They are well on their was way to doing this by an end run of the Constitution thru the National Popular Vote which uses state compacts.

The Dems are also engaged in massive voter fraud using their big city machines to counterbalance the votes from the rest of the state. Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, etc. provide the margins of victory with scores of precincts voting 100% for the Dems.

Changing the way certain states allocate electoral votes buys us time. You use it in selected states. Texas would not be one of them. Do you have any better ideas for getting back the WH? And don't give me this crap about communicating better the conservative message.

112 posted on 01/30/2013 10:53:36 AM PST by kabar
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To: kabar

There are two legitimate choices in life:

1. Win honorably.
2. Lose honorably.


113 posted on 01/30/2013 1:36:37 PM PST by fractionated
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To: kabar
Here in VA, if we had allocated our 13 electoral votes that way, Romney would have received 10 and Obama 3.

I've seen some commentators do the math, and point out the your plan makes an Obama voter count approximately...

I'll wait...

...hint, that number "3" is part of the answer...

PENCILS DOWN!

...THREE FIFTHS.

Yep, give the opposition the political nuclear bomb to drop on the GOP. Brilliant idea, that....

114 posted on 01/30/2013 1:36:56 PM PST by fractionated
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To: kabar
Cuccinelli is running for governor this year. He is not going to support something that might cost him votes.

So, you yourself admit that the voters have sniffed at this idea and found that it fails the smell test.

115 posted on 01/30/2013 1:37:09 PM PST by fractionated
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To: fractionated
There are two legitimate choices in life: 1. Win honorably. 2. Lose honorably.

You must be a Republican, a member of the Stupid Party. When the very survival of your nation is at stake, you win at all costs. This is exactly what is wrong with the Rep party. Do you think those were the two choices when we fought for our lives against the Japanese or Germans. Get real.

Obama’s Total War Against the GOP

"Total war ends when one side has been pummeled into total submission and loses the will to fight. For the GOP and for the future prosperity of the country, losing the will to fight is not an option. The only way to survive Obama’s assault is to resist him often and prevail in the 2014 midterms. In the interim, the GOP must man the barricades, because the battle is joined and will not cease until January 20, 2017."

116 posted on 01/30/2013 1:48:33 PM PST by kabar
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To: fractionated

No, I am admitting no such thing. I do know that Cuccinelli wants to be elected Governor and he will choose his issues wisely. There is no doubt that Reps would support such an idea, but the Dems are dead set against it for obvious reasons. And their base is bigger than our base. We don’t need to motivate and energize them more than we need to. VA is a purple state trending blue.


117 posted on 01/30/2013 1:52:59 PM PST by kabar
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To: fractionated
Yep, give the opposition the political nuclear bomb to drop on the GOP. Brilliant idea, that....

Listen Newbie, the opposition needs no provocation to drop a nuclear bomb on the GOP. They are already doing it, but the GOP, like the proverbial frog being boiled slowly in the pot on the stove, they will only discover it after it is too late to jump out of the pot. God forbid should we make them angry at us.

118 posted on 01/30/2013 1:58:21 PM PST by kabar
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To: kabar
Do you think those were the two choices when we fought for our lives against the Japanese or Germans.

Yes. Fortunately, we achieved the "win honorably" option.

Some people just give up easily, because they're too darn lazy to bust their butts doing the hard work of persuading voters.

119 posted on 01/31/2013 7:26:18 AM PST by fractionated
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To: kabar
I do know that Cuccinelli wants to be elected Governor and he will choose his issues wisely.

If you know this is an unwise position to choose, why don't you just give up on it and direct your efforts to the correct approach (more effective dissemination of the conservative message)?

120 posted on 01/31/2013 7:26:34 AM PST by fractionated
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