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Outlook The precarious state of the economy has eclipsed the presidential election as the principal topic of conversation among politicians in Washington. The shaky condition of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (see below) shows how far the subprime crisis goes with the danger of more banking failures threatening the whole economic structure.

(Fourth in a series of ten) Most Americans don’t know there was another U.S. government before the Constitution was drafted. Simplified books and courses leave out the Articles of Confederation, the government of the United States for its first eleven years. There were several fatal defects in the Articles of Confederation, and one was its presidency. Concerned with the dangerous powers of the king of England and monarchies generally, the first dramers created a presidency which was too weak. The "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" was elected for a one-year term by Congress itself. That "President" had...

OVER THE LAST two centuries, constitutional amendments to abolish or alter the Electoral College have been proposed in Congress more than 700 times. None has ever come close to being adopted - an indication, perhaps, of the existing system's enduring value. The most recent such proposal, introduced by US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, would eliminate the Electoral College in favor of direct popular election of the president. "If the principle of one-person-one-vote is to mean anything," Nelson declares, "the candidate who wins a majority of the votes should win the presidency."

Election 2008 Latest Polls

Backers of the popular vote do not seek to amend the Constitution; they know this is a nonstarter. Instead, a growing "National Popular Vote" (NPV) movement wants state legislatures to instruct their electors to vote for the winner of the greatest number of popular votes in the national election -- regardless of the ballots cast by voters in their own states. Massachusetts (12 electoral votes) may enact an NPV law as early as next week. Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Hawaii (with a total of 50 electoral votes) have already signed on. It's being considered in North Carolina, Rhode Island...

With their appeal to independents, Barack Obama and John McCain may scramble the electoral map in November. Others want to go further and throw out the Electoral College completely, replacing this "complicated" and "undemocratic" system with a direct, nationwide popular vote for the presidency. Despite its democratic allure, it's a bad idea. Backers of the popular vote do not seek to amend the Constitution; they know this is a nonstarter. Instead, a growing "National Popular Vote" (NPV) movement wants state legislatures to instruct their electors to vote for the winner of the greatest number of popular votes in the national...

Massachusetts Presidential Voting System Could Be Changed!!!! The Massachusetts House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill Wednesday, July 9, 2008 that would change the way Presidents are elected. If passed, H.678 "An Act Relative To The Agreement Among States To Elect The President By National Popular Vote" would place Massachusetts into a group of states that would elect the President and Vice President via a popular vote system. While this is not an obvious Second Amendment bill, it could have a serious impact as it could change who will be appointing future Supreme Court Justices. Currently the...

Dukakis calls for end to Electoral College Dave Wedge By Dave Wedge Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Calling it “critically important” to eliminate the Electoral College system, former Bay State Gov. Michael Dukakis called on lawmakers to join a growing number of states supporting a switch to a national popular vote to elect the president. “I think it is high time we got rid of the Electoral College and elected our presidents the way we elect every other elected official in the country - by a vote of the people,” Dukakis wrote in a letter e-mailed to state lawmakers yesterday. “The...

The constitutional amendment process is a complicated and lengthy affair. This is because we cannot be certain what consequences might arise from a seemingly minor alteration of the Constitution. To be sure, exchanging the electoral-vote system for direct election would adversely impact the entire constitutional and political structure of the United States. To begin, our Constitution is dedicated to securing everybodyÂ’s rights. This requires that we be concerned not only with size, but with the character of the majorities voting our president to office. There are many ways in which our Constitution is configured to prevent simple majorities. â–ª The...

U S Electoral College and its role in electing a president were discussed in the last article. The contests between Senator John McCain and Senator Barrack Obama in the East, North-east and Middle American states are reviewed here. The Eastern coastal belt has favored the Democrats traditionally. Middle America is strongly Republican. There are eight key states many consider consequential to the final outcome in 2008: namely Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The battles being waged in these states will keep everyone engrossed. The match-up is fascinating and 107 delegates are at stake. In 2004...

The Electoral College determines the U S Presidency and not the popular vote. When people vote for Barrack Obama or John McCain in November 2008; in fact, they will be voting to elect an electoral college. For example, if sixteen million California voters give a majority of votes to Obama, he would be entitled to 55 Electoral College votes and McCain zero. Electoral College favored George Bush in 2004 as he won a majority of 286 Electoral College votes from 31 states, while John Kerry won 251 votes from 19 states. These Electoral College delegates met in the first week...

The U.S. would no longer use the Electoral College to choose its presidents under a proposal introduced Friday by Florida's Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Instead, presidents would be picked by popular vote, a method that would have given former Vice President Al Gore the White House after the contested 2000 election. "It's time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one person, one vote," Nelson said in a statement. But changing the system requires a constitutional amendment and a meat grinder of legislative tests. First, Congress must approve the idea, and then 38 state legislatures must ratify...

WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., citing the 2000 presidential election, has introduced an amendment to abolish the Electoral College. Nelson, in a release, pointed to the election of President George W. Bush, even though former Vice President Al Gore had more popular votes, The Hill reported. The election was decided in Florida after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a recount, giving Bush the state and a majority of the Electoral College. Nelson's bill includes the creation of a rotating primary system to avoid disputes like those this year over the Florida and Michigan votes. The Democratic...

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College on Friday, less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from Florida at their national convention. “It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president,” Nelson said in a release announcing the amendment. Nelson had announced he would offer the legislation in an address to his state’s senate in March. Nelson said his principal argument for making the change is that the Electoral College permits a candidate...

IT appears that Hillary Clinton is going to suspend her presidential campaign this weekend, at the urging of Democratic Party leaders and superdelegates. Before that happens, Mrs. Clinton and the superdelegates might want to know this: if the general election were held today, Barack Obama would lose to John McCain, while Mr. McCain would lose to Mrs. Clinton. This conclusion comes not from wishful thinking but from a new method of analysis on the statistics of polls that has been accepted for publication in the journal Mathematical and Computer Modeling. The authors, J. Richard Gott III, a professor at Princeton,...

The case they make for a comfortable McCain win is not beyond reason. Begin with the 2004 electoral map. Add Iowa and Colorado to Obama’s side, since both are considered states Obama could pick off. Then count McCain victories in New Hampshire and Michigan, two states where McCain is competitive. In this scenario, McCain wins the Electoral College 291-246, a larger margin than Bush four years ago. If Obama managed only to win Iowa from Republicans and McCain managed only to win Pennsylvania, McCain would still win by a much greater margin than Bush — 300-237. “McCain is in a...

As we see Barack Obama winning certain cities, regions, and demographics by wide margins, and yet also having a tough time in some states with a lot of electoral votes (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida), it's not unthinkable that he could do what Al Gore did in 2000: Win the popular vote, but lose in the Electoral College. James Boyce examined a plausible scenario at the Huffington Post: Barack Obama will win California and New York and all the blue coastal states by huge margins - he will be millions of votes ahead on the basis of New York, California, Illinois...

See http://www.barackobama.com/resultscenter/Hillary has New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and most likely she would have won Florida, those are all must win states for the White House, and Obama has none of them.I love to see an electoral college vote count that ovelays this map.

In a state that has seen its share of electoral problems this decade, Florida’s senior Sen. Bill Nelson made a rare appearance before the state Senate Thursday to unveil sweeping federal election reform legislation that would eliminate the Electoral College. As the state now wrestles with the national Democratic Party to find a solution to seat its 210 delegates at this year’s presidential nominating convention, Nelson noted that “the solution is very elusive,” but that, “If nothing else, this election has provided further evidence that our system is broken.” The Democratic senator, who sued the Democratic National Committee and Chairman...

In a state that has seen its share of electoral problems this decade, Florida’s senior Sen. Bill Nelson made a rare appearance before the state Senate Thursday to unveil sweeping federal election reform legislation that would eliminate the Electoral College. As the state now wrestles with the national Democratic Party to find a solution to seat its 210 delegates at this year’s presidential nominating convention, Nelson noted that “the solution is very elusive,” but that, “If nothing else, this election has provided further evidence that our system is broken.” The Democratic senator, who sued the Democratic National Committee and Chairman...

This redirects the attack on the Electoral College by avoiding the amendment process to the US Constitution.   The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement among U.S. states that would effectively end the electoral college system of presidential elections and replace it with a direct nationwide vote of the people. As of February 2008, this interstate compact has been joined by Maryland and New Jersey; their 25 electoral votes amount to 9.3% of the 270 needed for it to take effect. The compact is based on Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives each state the...

Secretary of State: Popular Vote Would Encourage More People To Vote HARTFORD, Conn. -- Supporters of a state bill to change the way the nation elects the president turned up at a hearing in large numbers Friday. The bill is aimed at eliminating the Electoral College and allowing the national popular vote to determine the country's president. Eyewitness News reported that no one present at the hearing Friday voiced opposition to the passing of the bill. "We have this system that shuts out over two-thirds of the country including Connecticut," said Connecticut native Barry Fatam, who traveled from California to...

Ôªø Home 2008 Election Results Election Info Weblogs Guestbook Email Forum News Wiki Links Site Info Store The Electoral College Excerpt from an original document located at Jackson County, MO Election Board In order to appreciate the reasons for the Electoral College, it is essential to understand its historical context and the problem that the Founding Fathers were trying to solve. They faced the difficult question of how to elect a president in a nation that: was composed of thirteen large and small States jealous of their own rights and powers and suspicious of any central national government contained only...

Rarely in life does one get to enjoy irony and karma as much as Ted Olson. Having borne the scars of the Gore v Bush lawsuits arising from the 2000 presidential election, Olson now sees a similar outcome, on similar grounds, in the exact same state. Calling it "splendid theater", the incompetent handling of Florida and Michigan likely will combine with a razor-thin delegate chase for the Democratic presidential nomination to produce litigation that will reduce the party to shreds. Don't count Olson among the mourners: "How ironic. For over seven years the Democratic Party has fulminated against the Electoral...

If John R. Koza gets his way, American voters will never again have to wonder about the workings of the Electoral College and why it decides who sits in the White House. Koza is behind a push to have states circumvent the odd political math of the Electoral College and ensure that the presidency always goes to the winner of the popular vote. Basically, states would promise to award their electoral votes to the candidate with the most support nationwide, regardless of who carries each particular state. "We're just coming along and saying, 'Why not add up the votes of...

NEW JERSEY’S political hue is not just blue these days. It’s cobalt. In the last two months, the state has become ... the second, after Maryland, to pledge its Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote ....

i have long had the sneaking suspicion that New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine does not think much of me and my fellow New Jersey residents. Oh sure, when he needs cash for his latest wacky scheme, we are his first thought. We are a bloated, whipped collective sugar daddy waiting to be shaken down.

The Electoral College v. The Popular Vote by Dr. Vincent G. Gioia January 23, 2008   Since the 2000 presidential election, there have been calls for changing the way the president is elected because though George Bush received the majority of Electoral College votes, Al Gore received a larger number of votes nationwide. Democrats in particular have been very vocal about this and many on the left still harbor feelings that the George Bush ‘stole’ the election despite the fact his win was entirely in accordance with the Constitution.   The Electoral College is a device that founders of...

Democracy: Think the reformulated primary calendar is like a Marx brothers movie without the jokes? Wait till you see what some states have in mind for the Electoral College. It's voter disenfranchisement on steroids.From the folks who brought us super duper Tuesday by changing the primary calendar to give bigger states a bigger say in selecting a president shortly after Ground Hog Day comes the latest populist fad — open-heart surgery on the Electoral College. Since 2004, when John Kerry almost won the presidency while trailing in the popular vote, and 2000, when George W. Bush did win — and...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey on Sunday became the second state to enter a compact that would eliminate the Electoral College's power to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea. Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed legislation that approves delivering the state's 15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The Assembly approved the bill last month and the Senate followed suit earlier this month. Maryland — with 10 electoral votes — had been the only state to pass the compact into law. The measure could result in the electoral votes going to a candidate...

TRENTON, N.J.—New Jersey is close to entering a compact that would eliminate the power of the Electoral College to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea. The state Senate voted Thursday to approve delivering the state's 15 electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote. The Assembly approved the measure in December and needs Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature to become law. "The bill is subject to a thorough review, but Gov. Corzine has long been a supporter of this concept," Corzine spokesman Jim Gardner said. The measure could result in the electoral votes...

CBS News has discovered a dire new dirty political tactic. It is called "bundling." No, not the bundling of campaign funds as was performed by Norman Hsu for Hillary Clinton. This new bundling discovered by CBS involves allowing ballot petition initiatives to be "bundled" together by signature collectors. CBS has presented the fact that signature collectors in California are collecting signatures on the initative to allow district allocation of that state's Electoral College votes simultaneously with the collection of signatures for other ballot iniatives as some sort of dirty trick. They even have a video showing this "sneaky" practice that has been...

Have you ever signed a petition to put something on the ballot? It could be most anything. For example to prohibit the sale of cute little baby seal furs. Usually the person collecting the signatures will have several other ballot petitions for you to sign such as getting rid of mandatory car inspections or lowering property taxes or saving the Everglades or a whole host of other ballot propositions. Anybody who has ever signed ballot petitions know this is quite an ordinary procedure. The people collecting the signatures are paid for each petition filled out so they frequently have...

In the long, hot autumn of 2000, the world was shocked by the contempt for democracy shown by the Republican Party. They knew their man had lost the popular vote to Al Gore by half a million votes. They knew the majority of voters in Florida itself had pulled a lever for Gore. But they fought -- amid the confetti of hanging chads -- to stop the state's votes being counted, and to ensure that the Supreme Court imposed George W. Bush on the nation. Today, that contempt for democracy is on display again. In California right now, there is...

Backers of a California initiative that could significantly aid the next Republican presidential nominee said today they're still collecting signatures to qualify it for the state's ballot in June. To qualify the measure, its supporters must obtain signatures from 434,000 registered California voters. So to ensure they reach the required mark, the initiative supporters aim to amass about 700,000 signatures. The measure calls for California to change the winner-take-all method for its 55 electoral votes -- more than one-fifth of the total needed to win the White House. Instead, the electoral votes would be apportioned based primarily on the outcome...

What do you do if you can't carry state? Try to hijack 20 Electoral College votes -- A dangerous ballot measure that could hijack the presidential election is back in play.Once again signatures are being gathered to qualify a Republican-backed initiative that would rig the way California's electoral votes are counted and, as a result, possibly decide who is elected president of the United States in 2008.No candidate has claimed responsibility for the initiative, but there are some obvious fingerprints on the initiative drive. Paul Singer, a Wall Street hedge fund manager with close ties to GOP presidential candidate Rudy...

In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times on October 10, 2007, University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato argues for scrapping our Constitution and replacing it with a new one. He couldn’t be more wrong. In support of his call to redo the Constitution, Sabato trots out a quote from Thomas Jefferson positing that a constitution is only good for nineteen years. The quote comes from a letter Jefferson sent to James Madison on September 6, 1789. In his response, Madison raised several fundamental flaws to Jefferson’s (and Sabato’s) reasoning. The one most applicable to our times is this...

Inland Rep. Darrell Issa is throwing his political clout and significant financial support behind a state ballot initiative to change the way California's electoral votes are cast in presidential elections -- a measure some say could decide the next president. The wealthy congressman, who single-handedly jumpstarted the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis, said Tuesday he has agreed to support the measure both financially and by providing access to his own fundraising network, including his substantial e-mail lists. Issa, R-Vista, declined to say how much money he would give, describing his contribution as fluid. Dave Gilliard, a Republican consultant with...

In the heat of the electoral controversy — the worst possible time to make constitutional decisions — many people, such as Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton, are calling for an end to the Electoral College. Big mistake. Someone once said, Don’t knock down a wall merely because you cannot immediately see what it’s good for. The same can be said for the Electoral College. We should keep in mind that the Founding Fathers were of somewhat better caliber than the politician you are likely to see on television, including those with presidential ambitions. The Electoral College was not an idea floating...

Today Fred Thompson received the endorsement of two experienced members of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Natacha Seijas and Commissioner Joe Martinez have both announced their support for Fred Thompson for President of the United States. Commissioner Natacha Seijas was elected to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners in 1993, becoming the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the County Commission. Representing the Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Palm Springs and Country Club regions, she serves as Chairperson of the Infrastructure and Land Use Committee and was recently appointed to the Governmental Structure Task Force. "I am proud to...

Abstract: "The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy" analyzes the shift in the role of the Supreme Court following the movement towards a democratic Senate which culminated in the Seventeenth Amendment. The Supreme Court's shift is presented as the inevitable result of the system of mixed government that underlies the constitutional order, which orders American Government into democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical parts. While in the original conception of the constitution the Senate was the aristocratic part, the Senate would become part of the democratic part with the Seventeenth Amendment and prior procedural changes. Into...

Two consultants revive measure, hoping Issa will help fund $2 million in signature-gathering costs. Two Republican political consultants are trying to revive an initiative to change how California's electoral votes are tallied in next year's presidential election, seeking support from major GOP donors including Rep. Darrell Issa, who financed the 2003 gubernatorial recall.Sacramento-based consultant Dave Gilliard, an Issa adviser, is spearheading a drive to collect at least 600,000 more signatures by mid-November for an initiative that would divvy up California's electoral college votes by congressional district. The June 2008 initiative could provide next year's Republican presidential candidate with an additional...

Ever since the 2000 Presidential Election, powerful movements have been afoot to alter or abolish the Electoral College. After all, critics complain, Al Gore won the popular vote, but Bush won the presidency because he had a narrow victory in the Electoral College. "How undemocratic can you get?" they cry. Why should this political battle concern investors? Because the Electoral College encourages political stability--a basic condition for long-term progress. Undermining it would have adverse consequences for wealth creation and entrepreneurial opportunity in the U.S. One approach: to have states award their electoral votes on the basis of who wins each...

From The Center for Constitutional Studies Democratizing the Constitution: The Failure of the Seventeenth AmendmentC. H. Hoebeke*[From HUMANITAS, Volume IX, No. 2, 1996 © National Humanities Institute, Washington, DC USA] It was with no small sense of vindication that Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan signed the proclamation of 31 May 1913, declaring the Seventeenth Amendment duly ratified and incorporated into the fundamental laws of the United States. More than twenty years earlier as a Nebraska congressman, "The Great Commoner" had joined the struggle to free the Senate from the control of corrupt state legislatures, and despite three failed campaigns for...

This weblog calls for the repeal of the 17th Amendment and addresses the abusive hegemony committed by the U. S. Senate. If Americans want to remove some corruption from government, the first significant step is to repeal the 17th Amendment. Americans should fear the steady growth by the oligarchy in the Senate. We should fear the oligarchs more because our Constitution cannot be spoiled by bombs, the courts, or the President; only through legislation.

The recent bid to end California’s winner-take-all electoral vote system -- a change that will likely boost GOP chances in capturing the White House next year -- is doomed unless a major donor steps forward to underwrite this ballot initiative’s signature-gathering effort. During two weeks of petitioning before its funds ran out late last September, the group Californians for Equal Representation had collected 115,000 signatures, political consultant Mike Arno told Newsmax. To qualify for next June’s statewide ballot, this initiative would require 433,971 valid registered voter signatures – a task that would cost millions. With the electoral map increasingly becoming...

San Francisco -- Days after a controversial organization began collecting voter signatures for a ballot measure to change California's winner-take-all primary, a founder of the GOP-backed group says its major players are resigning - and the group will fold - due to lack of funding and support. "The levels of support just weren't there," said Marty Wilson, the Sacramento-based fundraiser, in a telephone interview Thursday. Wilson was among the founding members of Californians for Equal Representation, the group led by Sacramento attorney Thomas Hiltachk that intended to collect roughly 434,000 signatures to qualify the Presidential Election Reform Act for the...

Democrats have been working themselves into a lather of righteous indignation over a Republican-backed ballot measure that would, if enacted next year, change the way California allocates its presidential electoral votes. One Democratic radio ad campaign denounced it as a "partisan power grab," and the state's Democratic leaders have been echoing that line for weeks. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has pledged "whatever it takes within legal boundaries" to defeat the measure. Currently, the candidate with the largest popular vote is awarded all of the state's 55 electoral votes, the same system used in 47 other states. The proposed...

...It’s panic time in Republican circles. The G.O.P. could go into next year’s election burdened by the twin demons of an unpopular war and an economic downturn. The party that took the White House in 2000 while losing the popular vote figures it may have to do it again. The Presidential Election Reform Act is the name of a devious proposal that Republican operatives have dreamed up to siphon off 20 or more of the 55 electoral votes that the Democrats would get if, as expected, they win California in 2008. That’s a lot of electoral votes, the equivalent of...

Leaders of a national campaign to elect the president by popular vote are hoping to gain ground in Massachusetts, a state proponents say has largely been ignored by presidential candidates who spend most of their time and money in states that don't have a strong party allegiance. Although leaders of the National Popular Vote Campaign say the issue is resonating with voters across the country, local lawmakers are less than enthusiastic about the proposed legislation. If Massachusetts joins Maryland, the first state to sign the inter-state compact into law, it would have to cast its 12 Electoral College votes for...