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Unpopular vote: If you dump the Electoral College
ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE ^ | 8-11-2004 | Jeffry Gardner

Posted on 08/11/2004 4:59:48 PM PDT by suzyq5558

Next time you hear some free spirit say she wants to rid us of the Electoral College take her outside, look skyward and try to spot a big jet flying high overhead. Traveling east or west - it makes no difference.

Have her close her eyes and imagine her favorite presidential candidate on board the plane napping or reading a fascinating article in Newsweek or maybe plugged into an iPod listening to the whining lyrics of John Cougar Mellencamp

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


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: candidates; electorialcollege
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To: All

I was just looking at the Red and Blue map and saw the BEST argument for the Electoral College ever! Check out California. Didn't it go to Albore in 2000? The state is predominantly red, and yet Bush lost it. Check and see what counties are blue..San Fran area . . .LA. . .

Those poor people in northern and outstate California. . .having to put up with those nincompoops in the populous areas.

Thank God I live in fly over country!!


21 posted on 08/11/2004 5:24:03 PM PDT by misharu
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To: suzyq5558

With a direct popular vote for the Presidential Election, a close outcome could cause every vote in every precinct in the country to be challenged. Massive recounts, total chaos.


22 posted on 08/11/2004 5:25:52 PM PDT by reg45
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To: misharu

Look at Oregon.all red but the Portland Metro area. we have mass nicimpoops to contend with here!


23 posted on 08/11/2004 5:26:44 PM PDT by suzyq5558 (Sayyyyyy....isnt disingenuous dissembler just a fancy way of saying your a LIAR???)
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To: visualops
Everytime I hear anyone mention getting rid of the EC I wanna give them a swift kick in the @ss

I would not be surprised but would be disappointed if Bush wins the popular vote but loses the Electoral College voter.

This can happen by Bush Winning Big in Texas, the South and the Western Red States while Kerry runs just ahead of Bush in the NE, CA and Midwest.

I have actually had nightmares of this scenario.

24 posted on 08/11/2004 5:27:07 PM PDT by pete anderson
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To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington

indeed appropo.
when Gore lost and this whine went up, I compared it to
giving the World Series title to the team with the most runs, rather than most games won.Even if that was done,after the libs lost (again) they'd want to change the
rules(again) to most at bats or soemething else.


25 posted on 08/11/2004 5:27:21 PM PDT by Rakkasan1 (Justice of the Piece:Kerry/Edwards...so full of crap they need two Johns.)
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To: suzyq5558

Oh and I see much of Lane Co. in the blue also.


26 posted on 08/11/2004 5:27:37 PM PDT by suzyq5558 (Sayyyyyy....isnt disingenuous dissembler just a fancy way of saying your a LIAR???)
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To: Merry
One reform I would like to see is deducting the illegal alien population in counting congressional seats. If states or localities do not want to cooperate with the census bureau in counting the illegal alien population, a simple adjustment can be made by counting the illegal alien population in jail, seeking ER treatment or other social services.

So, LA, you can't get an accurate count of your illegal aliens. Well, those in jail, getting ER treatment or public welfare constitutes 38% of the total, therefore, we will deduct 38% of your population for congessional reapportionment-- one of your congress seats goes to Oklahoma, two to Pennsylvania and one to Utah. Now, let's move on to the next large metropolis and count their illegal alien population.

27 posted on 08/11/2004 5:27:54 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (crime would drop like a sprung trapdoor if we brought back good old-fashioned hangings)
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To: suzyq5558

I'm going to go against the grain here. I believe that the EC is outdated and a handicap. Candidates currently don't have to fight for every vote in every state. They can just ignore the states that they feel they can either easily win or badly lose.

The EC also virtually guarantees that a third party vote is totally wasted, which is EXACTLY the way the top two parties want it.

Don't give me crap about how the EC saved us from Gore, the EC also gave us clinton.

Since no candidate had received a majority of the popular vote, a runoff would have been between the top two candidates, GHW Bush and clinton. George the Elder would have mopped up the floor with clinton.


28 posted on 08/11/2004 5:31:44 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn't be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: suzyq5558
Quote from the article:

Take away the Electoral College's ability to confer a presidential sheepskin, and that train blows through here faster than a tender moment between the Clintons.

29 posted on 08/11/2004 5:31:48 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (Must get moose and squirrel ... B. Badanov)
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe

Thanks ! I needed a good laugh !!! That is priceless !


30 posted on 08/11/2004 5:32:54 PM PDT by smokeyb
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To: Merry

I remember when Hillary Clinton was elected as Senator of New York. The first thing she suggested was getting rid of the Electoral College. It was enough for me to know we should keep it.


31 posted on 08/11/2004 5:33:26 PM PDT by maxwellp (Throw the U.N. in the garbage where it belongs.)
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To: suzyq5558

Why is it that people with a questionable education at best think they're smarter than the Founding Fathers? Even worse, why is it that so many of these pinheads get elected to Congress?


32 posted on 08/11/2004 5:34:57 PM PDT by Uncle Vlad
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To: Beelzebubba

The electoral college is the last true vestige of the federal republic this nation was meant to be. It should be strengthened, not eliminated. State legislatures should become active once again in choosing electors, and the presidential election restored to what it was supposed to be--based on the votes of the States, not the Peepul.


33 posted on 08/11/2004 5:35:53 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: suzyq5558

Bump for later.


34 posted on 08/11/2004 5:36:38 PM PDT by Springman
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe

"Tyranny of the majority? "

There is such a thing. It is the current sense of the Congress that they can do pretty much anything that can get a majority vote and past the president. Unless the liberal judgess don't like it, of course.

Want an example of a tyranny of the majority closer to home? Home owners' associations.

But to as what your liberal friend is referring to, I have no idea, but is is my deeply held belief that the EC supresses third parties and the true diversity of ideas.


35 posted on 08/11/2004 5:38:11 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn't be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
You are right on target. It would appear that some here are still fighting yesterday's was and have all forgotten about 1992.

Additionally, the EC may not be as kind to Bush in 2004 as it was in 2000. This year it is quite possible that Bush may win the popular vore but lose the EC.

36 posted on 08/11/2004 5:38:12 PM PDT by pete anderson
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To: maxwellp

Boy, do I ever remember that!! The founding fathers were eternally smart and it seems understood the human factor in just about all cases. We have a republic and we shall stand that way.


37 posted on 08/11/2004 5:38:36 PM PDT by cousair (k)
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To: suzyq5558

When are Americans going to learn this is not a democracy? In fact, the concept of a democracy was dismissed out of hand at the Constitutional Convention. No democracy had ever succeeded, and democracy was considered equivalent to mob rule.


38 posted on 08/11/2004 5:39:02 PM PDT by gitmo (Thanks, Mel. I needed that.)
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To: Merry
Our forefathers were brilliant to put the electoral college in place. Without it, Philadelphia, NYC, Chicago, LA would choosing the President.

And maybe even LA wouldn't count. Elections would be over by the time the polls closed east of the Mississippi.

Just as the World Series is broken up into five of seven *games* that must be won-- the effect of the EC is to force a particular strategy on the players. It is quite possible that one team could get more runs in a series, and yet lose the series. But we want them to build their strategy around winning games.

It is a complete myth to even suggest that there is such a thing as a "popular vote" that can be counted. It cannot. Nobody actually knows those numbers for sure. There are (supposedly) states where ballots will remain uncounted if the total remaining cannot possibly change the outcome.

But more important than that: campaign strategy is wholly built around the EC model, and campaigning does affect the voting patterns. To compare a so-called "popular vote" count without recognizing that the campaign strategy was designed around key battleground states is to ignore the gorilla in the room.

39 posted on 08/11/2004 5:44:05 PM PDT by Ramius (The pieces are moving. We come to it at last. The great battle of our time.)
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To: Ramius
five of seven

Gaaak. Four of seven. [slapping self] [reaching for bourbon].

40 posted on 08/11/2004 5:45:34 PM PDT by Ramius (The pieces are moving. We come to it at last. The great battle of our time.)
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