Posted on 05/08/2007 8:49:25 AM PDT by TheBethsterNH
Dean on Electoral College System: ‘Get Rid of It' By John P. Gregg Valley News Staff Writer Hanover -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday said he favors replacing the Electoral College system with a tally whereby American presidents are elected by the popular vote.
“I think it's outlived its usefulness,” Dean said in response to a question on the subject during a talk to a government class at Dartmouth College. “It was an invention for a time 200 years ago. I think that times have changed and we ought to get rid of it, one way or the other.”
The Maryland Legislature last month approved a plan that would direct its 10 electoral votes to be cast for the winner of the national popular vote, rather than the victor in Maryland. The plan, however, would take effect only if states forming a majority of the country's 538 electoral votes followed suit.
Several smaller, rural states have historically voiced support for the present system, which was established in the Constitution, saying it allows them to retain an important role in presidential elections. Presidential campaigns must devote attention to small swing states such as West Virginia or New Hampshire, which has just 4 electoral votes, under the current system. Only two presidents have been elected without winning the popular vote, notably George W. Bush in the bitterly contested 2000 election.
“I'm torn about this because I come from a small state. If it passes, you won't see a lot of presidential candidates out, after the primary season is over, in the small states,” Dean said of moving to a popular vote for president. “But you will see presidential candidates of both parties in Texas and California. And I think you need to do that. Right now, Democrats don't go to Texas, and Republicans don’t go to California. That’s not so good for the country.”
In telephone interviews after Dean's comments, the idea won the backing of two top Democrats in Vermont, where Dean served as governor before running for president in 2004.
Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said the 2000 election, in which Democrat Al Gore lost despite winning the popular vote, is “problematic for democracy.”
“I'm with Howard Dean in that I think, in this day and age, we really cross state borders, we move from one state to the next, and there's not this same kind of sense that the interests of one state are very different from the interests of others, which the Electoral College was designed to protect,” she said.
“I think it would help democracy, and I'm not worried that it would dilute Vermont's role,” added Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, a Putney Democrat.
Across the border in New Hampshire, state Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen said he doesn't have strong feelings about the subject but noted that most of the “hue and cry” to abolish the Electoral College system is coming from Democrats.
“I do think that historically the Electoral College is a bit of an anachronism. That being said, I also think it has served our nation well, like so many things our founders set up,” Cullen said.
At the Dartmouth class on comparative politics, Dean fielded about 20 questions during his hour-long appearance.
Dean said:
* He didn't think the New Hampshire primary's influence on presidential politics was being eroded by the front-loading of multiple primaries on Feb. 5, shortly after the Granite State is expected to hold its vote.
“Judging by the number of presidential candidates you've had here, and how often they've come, I don’t think New Hampshire is in any danger of losing its influence. In fact, I think the front-loading movement to Feb. 5 is actually going to increase New Hampshire's influence, because I think the front four states are essentially going to set the tone,” he said.
* Historically, only voters in Oregon and Vermont had been driven at the polls by environmental concerns, but Gore's focus on climate change in the movie An Inconvenient Truth had catalyzed the issue.
“This election is going to be very interesting, because concern over global warming has begun to go to the top echelons of what people worry about,” Dean said.
* The newly elected president of France, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, would be seen as “a moderate Democrat over here.”
“I'm not joking,” Dean said. “I think we ought to give Sarkozy a chance. The French people have spoken. We don't know a lot about him, but we know he's bright, he’s apparently supportive of America, which is certainly a welcome change from President Chirac, and let’s just see how this works.”
* While he doesn't believe the Second Amendment gives each individual the right to bear arms, he also rejected the notion of national gun control laws.
“I come from a state that doesn't have any gun laws, except that there's no shooting deer from a car -- they don't think that’s fair,” Dean quipped. “My views on guns are that every state is so different, then why not let the people of each state decide how much or how little gun control they want. I don't see how you can have a national gun control law, because one size doesn’t fit all.”
After the class, students said they were pleased to have a new view of Dean.
Evan Nogay, a freshman football player from West Virginia, said he had formed his opinion of Dean as “erratic” from the televised “scream” speech the Vermont Democrat made to supporters after the Iowa caucuses in 2004. “I was incredibly impressed with him in general,” Nogay said of Dean yesterday.
Lisa Baldez, the government professor whose class hosted Dean, said the format had fit well with the course's focus on revolutionary change.
“There was something about the classroom … that kind of allowed him to engage the issues more deeply. He answered 20 questions, and he provided really thoughtful answers. I was really pleased,” Baldez said.
There was one issue, however, that Dean didn't discuss. Though he wasn't asked about the movement to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, which has consumed Vermont activists in recent months, Dean ducked the issue when asked by a reporter as he was leaving.
“I'm not going to comment on that,” Dean said.
“The People” say get rid of Dean, not the electoral college. It has the valuable property that it discourages cheating, since you can’t load up on electoral college votes based on popular vote totals. Each state gets no more and no less consideration than it should under the electoral college system. Dean and his ilk want to cheat to win, so that’s why they want to be rid of it.
I'm sure that he feels the same was about the Constitution.
They know if the Electoral System is scrapped, the President will be elected by NYC,Boston,Chicago,LA,Miami,Houston,Seattle,SF,and NOLA.........
“It was an invention for a time 200 years ago. I think that times have changed and we ought to get rid of it, one way or the other.”
Is he talking about the Constitution, the States, or just the U.S. as a sovereign nation, in general. Read between the lines.
How did Clinton manipulate the electoral college? He won the ‘92 election by 370 to 168 electoral votes. Do you mean that Ross Perot pulled votes from Bush Sr. and tipped the balance in some states?
Sad to say, Clinton got 5% more of the popular vote than Bush Sr. in ‘92.
Democrats always want to change the rules and laws to favor them right up until they don’t benefit them any longer and then they want to change them again.
The smaller population states wouldn’t like to see what little influence they have disappear in favor of a handful of big city states.
Nope, the elections will be settled by the 3 billion votes from the South Dakota indian reservations.
Dean doesn’t understand the concept of Federalism and how our nation was formed.
“It was only invented because they didn’t have the technology to count votes back them” Quoted from my dad quoting some liberal teacher at the U of I.
Acceptance of direct democracy has been a goal of communism since it’s inception. Sadly we are at the doorstep of implementing this disastrous policy
Spoken like a true Stalinist.
“Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said the 2000 election, in which Democrat Al Gore lost despite winning the popular vote, is ‘problematic for democracy.’”
The Vermont Secretary of State needs to go back to civics 101 and relearn the differecne between “democracy” and “republic.” We are supposed to have a republican form of government, not a democratic one.
Say it another way: Bye-bye Electoral College, hello Civil War II.
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