Bullet Dodged. For Now.
The Pugs cooked up a seriously nasty initiative for California which called for changing California’s winner-take-all electoral college system to one that reflected the outcome of the individual congressional districts. It was as dishonest and duplicitous an effort as any the Pug has ever concocted. So much so, even the guy who wrote it pulled out in disgust.
Thankfully, the measure cynically named Californians for Fair Representation, never made to the ballot. If enacted, it would have given the Pugs at least 20 more electoral votes than they received in 2004–more than enough to swing that election and perhaps more than enough to ensure that the outcome of every subsequent presidential contest would be like 2000–the winner of the popular vote would almost automatically lose the electoral college and the election.
The measure, initiated and supported by some of the same guys who were involved with the Swiftboating of John Kerry, died from a lack of support and from allegations of non-disclosure of the real sources of funds. Apparently the stench was so bad, even the people who supported it couldn’t stand it any more.
Posted: September 28th, 2007 under Oversight, Pigtards.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Nosebetter
Time: October 2, 2007, 6:51 pm
The Dems in North Carolina sponsored the same thing in their state. Dean pressured them into withdrawing that bill. I’m sure the big money donors put pressure on Dean. The proposal smacked too much of democracy.
An exerp from The March of Democracy, A History of the United States by James Truslow Adams, Volume 3, 1965:
“To over-simplify the example in order to make it clear, we may say that four States with 1, 000, 000 population each might have one electoral vote each, and another with 5, 000, 000 population might have five. If all people in the four States and 2, 000, 000 in the fifth State voted for Jones, Jones would have 6, 000, 000 popular votes out of 9, 000, 000, but only four electoral votes. His opponent, Brown, who polled not a single vote in four states and only 3, 000, 000 in the fifth State, would have won the five electoral votes of that state, and so be elected president.
In 1860, Lincoln polled 1, 866, 452 popular votes, Douglas 1, 376, 957, Breckenridge 859, 781, and Bell 588, 879, but the electoral votes were respectively 180, 12, 72, and 39. Thus not only was Lincoln elected president, although he polled well on to a million less votes than his combined oopponents, but Douglas, who polled about 1, 377, 000 popular votes to Breckenridge’s 850,000, received only 12 electoral votes to the latter’s 72. The original system, devised to keep the the election out of the hands of the people has broken down…” (p5,6)
Comment from Leftcoast
Time: October 3, 2007, 6:39 pm
No one is pure in this, Nose. My take is the Electoral College is the vestigial tail of our electoral system and should be cut off. Let’s leave it as a popular vote…
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