(no subject)

[nibot]

Okay, which electors can we lobby? In 38 states they are apparently bound to go with winner-take-all, so my question is, which are the remaining states?

Comments

[odd-dog.livejournal.com]

if we'd won the popular vote, sure, but we didn't, so I really don't think lobbying's the answer.

[odd-dog.livejournal.com]

right, *but* in all of those cases (with the exception of Bush-Gore), the president won the most popular votes.

Rather than trying to lobby a victory, I think the Democratic party needs to figure out why it's not reaching the voters.

[odd-dog.livejournal.com]

I think this NY Times piece

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/opinion/03kris.html

sums up the problem to which I referred.

Fantastic

[cybersynapse.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love the way you think. Reading this tiny little post as I was randomly surfing UCB's friends' page is as close as I've come this morning to feeling anything besides anger and despair. Thank you.

[svino.livejournal.com]

There was a West Virginia elector who said he was toying with the idea of not voting for Bush. If it had gone 269-269 (with Kerry getting Nevada and Iowa), it would have been very interesting to follow up on that.

[vyncentvega.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

It's not that it's a tie, but that no one got a majority. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won both the popular and electoral vote, but since there were four candidates, the house had to decide, and they chose John Quincy Adams (another son of a one-term president). However, the difference back then is that John Quincy Adams was a patriot who believed in the rule of law, and Andrew Jackson did things like forced-march the entire Cherokee nation into Oklahoma, even though the Supreme Court specifically said he wasn't allowed to.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

Kerry also would have had to win Nevada (which I tried to help him do) but he didn't quite do it. With Nevada for Kerry, both would have 269.

[anemone.livejournal.com]

That wouldn't have mattered. I'm pretty sure the candidate has to win a majority (not just a plurality). So the interest case is a 270-268 split, and having one of the 270 electors decide not to vote. Then neither candidate gets a majority and it goes the house.

[svino.livejournal.com]

Right, in a 269-269 tie, it only would have made a difference if he actually switched his vote to Kerry (instead of to a third party candidate) which wasn't what he said he was going to do.