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Lawmakers have taken a step to make California more relevant in presidential politics, voting to give the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. The state Assembly passed AB459 on Thursday on a 43-18 vote, sending it to the state Senate. . . .

Just as every Christmas brings the same tired argument over nativity scenes, Christmas trees and Santa Claus, every election cycle brings forth a fresh attempt to ignore the Constitutional establishment of the Electoral College, and allow the city centers to run roughshod over rural Americans. The 2012 election is no different, but it does bring a fresh approach to the age old problem of a "popular vote" Presidential election... by having the state legislators pass a law, obligating their EC votes to the national popular vote winners. Under this scheme, state legislatures would pass legislation that would bind them to...

California is a population powerhouse that's home to 1 out of 8 American voters and a political ATM that pumps millions into presidential campaign coffers. But the state's solid-blue status and election rules make it "irrelevant" in the presidential sweepstakes every four years, state Assemblyman Jerry Hill says.Hill, a San Mateo Democrat, and Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande of Palm Desert (Riverside County) want to change that. The legislators are part of a growing crowd of bipartisan backers of a nationwide campaign to elect presidents by popular vote. The drive has some powerhouse supporters, including Tom Golisano, the billionaire philanthropist and...

Attacks on the Electoral College Gain Momentum    [Tara Ross] You won’t hear about it in the mainstream media, but the Electoral College is on the verge of being eliminated. One important legislative vote could occur Thursday. Two others could occur in the upcoming days and weeks. A California-based group, National Popular Vote, is lobbying hard for a dangerous piece of anti-Electoral College legislation. My NRO article on the mechanics of the legislation is here. Five states have already approved NPV, but now three additional states are dangerously close to joining them: Delaware, Massachusetts, and New York. Another trio...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A Shaw Island man has filed a referendum to repeal a new law that has Washington state join a compact with other states to cast its presidential electoral votes for the national popular vote winner. David Anderson filed the referendum Wednesday, one day after Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the bill. The new law doesn't take effect until enough states sign on to account for 270 electoral votes - the number it takes to win the White House. Washington has 11 electoral votes. Anderson would have to gather more than 120,500 signatures by July in order to qualify...

On April 21, the Nevada Assembly passed HB 413, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was 27-14. I heard this, this evening on Casey Hendrickson with Heather Kydd Live! The NV Assembly passed this with 27 Dems voting for and the 14 Repubs voting no. This vote just happened late this afternoon in Carson City! This bill says that in the General Presidential Election, Nevada's Electoral votes will not go to the Candidate who won in Nevada, but the the National popular vote of the nation. I can't find a news source to quote at this time. I...

[Veto message follows] To Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 37 without my signature. As I stated in vetoing similar legislation in 2006, I believe strongly in democracy and in honoring the will of the people. This bill represents a significant departure away from letting each individual state choose how to award its presidential electoral votes and towards a national vote for president. Because California’s endorsement of a national popular vote would significantly change the debate on the matter, enactment of this bill would represent a major shift in the way not only Californians but...

In his early 20’s, John R. Koza and fellow graduate students invented a brutally complicated board game based on the Electoral College ... Now, a 63-year-old eminence among computer scientists who teaches genetic programming at Stanford, Dr. Koza has decided to top off things with an end run on the Constitution. He has concocted a plan for states to skirt the Electoral College system legally to insure the election of whichever presidential candidate receives the most votes nationwide. The first fruit of his effort, a bill approved by the California legislature that would allocate the state’s 55 electoral votes to...

Who are "They"? They are 5th Columnist who have invaded and taken over the Democrat Party and who declare themselves "Progressives", "Moderates", and "Liberals", "They" are socialist who want the destruction of the US Government, Anti-American international forces who hate the idea of an American Super-Power and the will to defend Freedom and Liberty. "They" are those who are from the Left-Side of the Spectrum, "They" are people who are so far to the left that Communist and National Socialist look like Far Right Wingers. What are they doing? They are attempting to "Bypass" the constitution and not allow states...

SACRAMENTO - California's electoral votes for president should not be awarded based on the national popular vote, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Saturday as he vetoed a bill that would have changed the way the state's electoral votes are awarded. Rushing to beat a midnight bill-signing deadline, the Republican governor signed 110 bills including a bill to require labeling of Sonoma wine and another that boosts Internet security. He vetoed 73 bills, including a mandate for alternate fuels. Schwarzenegger said a national popular vote bill by Assemblyman Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, disregards the will of a majority of Californians. The bill...

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...

| If John Koza gets his way, American voters will never again have to worry about the inner workings of the Electoral College and why it decides who sits in the White House. Koza is behind a push for states to 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...

California legislators have approved legislation to circumvent the Electoral College. But the measure could face a veto from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill by Senator Carole Migden, a San Francisco Democrat, would ratify an interstate agreement in which states award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. That would avoid a repeat of the 2000 election, when George Bush won the presidency but not the popular vote.

In a recent column titled The National Popular Vote Fallacy, I attempted to demonstrate how the progressives who are behind the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) may, in fact, be shooting themselves in the foot.As the NPVIC rule is designed, when enough states have joined the Compact to bring at least 270 electoral votes (a simple majority in the Electoral College) to the table, then and only then will the combined electoral votes of all the Compact states automatically go to the candidate with a majority of the national popular vote, thereby eliminating any possibility of electing a president...

The progressive era, fueled by the Fabians, worked to take away more of the voice of the States, and move America towards pure democracy James Madison wrote five times in his essays of the Federalist Papers that we are a republic, and then explained what a republic is. He believed this to be necessary not only so that the Constitution may be properly understood, but because in their argument against the Constitution, the statists of the era were trying to convince the people that a republic, and a democracy, are the same thing. Democracy, in reality, is a transitional form...

Like the proverbial general waging the last war, America’s pundit class has dug in around a Maginot Line of conventional wisdom erected around President Barack Obama’s electoral coalition in preparation for the next engagement. In a May article for Politico Magazine, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics crew took an admittedly early look at the electoral map ahead of the 2016 contest and came up with some disappointing conclusions for Republicans. While it’s true that it’s too early to make any concrete assumptions about how the race for the White House will develop, it’s fair to note that the...

Many savvy political analysts believe the Democrats have a built in advantage in the Electoral College. Democrats have won four of the last six Presidential elections, and in all six races, they have won a collection of 18 states plus the District of Columbia, now totaling 242 Electoral College votes. These states include all of the New England states except New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. Democrats have won 5 of the last 6 Presidential contests in New Hampshire, Iowa, and New Mexico, three...

As the 2016 presidential field slowly takes shape, the race — even with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announcing his candidacy — centers on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.). While neither has officially declared, both are working feverishly behind the scenes, building an infrastructure; testing policy platforms; and preparing for a grueling campaign season. By many outward appearances, Bush has moved more aggressively toward an announcement with the formation of the Right to Rise PAC and a bevy of policy speeches. Yet, given the potentially crowded field of Republican candidates, including current and former...

No matter whom Republicans nominate to face Hillary Rodham Clinton in November 2016, that candidate will start at a disadvantage. It’s not polling, Clinton’s deep résumé or improving state of the economy. It’s the electoral college. Yes, the somewhat arcane — yet remarkably durable — way in which presidential elections are decided tilts toward Democrats in 2016, as documented by nonpartisan political handicapper Nathan Gonzales in a recent edition of the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report. Gonzales notes that if you add up all of the states that are either “safe” for the eventual Democratic nominee or “favor” that nominee,...

LINCOLN, Neb. - If this state had an official color, it would most certainly be red. Football fans don scarlet sweatshirts each game day, red meat is a dietary staple and, for decades, Republican presidential candidates filled Nebraska's borders on the electoral map with their party's name. Use a link from this google search to bypass NYT's pay-wall.https://www.google.com/search?q=blue+dot+for+obama+prompts+red+nebrask+to+revisit+electoral+college+rules&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=Palemoon:en-US&client=palemoon