In 1980, Kerry states would have brought us 270 electoral votes

[WI_DEM]

Here are the Kerry states with electoral vote distribution from 1980:

New York 41
Pennsylvania 27
Massachusetts 14
Rhode Island 4
Connecticut 8
New Jersey 17
Delaware 3
Maine 4
New Hampshire 4
Vermont 3
DC 3
Maryland 10
Illinois 26
Wisconsin 11
Minnesota 10
Michigan 21
California 45
Oregon 6
Washington 9
Hawaii 4

Moral of story, redistricting has screwed us in the Northern states. The Kerry states today bring us 252 electoral votes, if these states had the same electoral votes as they did in 1980 we would have had 270 electoral votes without adding Ohio, Florida, New Mexico or Iowa.

[batchdem04]

1. yay!

lets all go back in our time machines to 1980 and say Kerry won!



sorry...:(

[July]

2. We're not really up for this kind of humor right now.

If you don't mind.

[WI_DEM]

4. it would be nice to do that

but unfortunately the sunbelt and south keep gaining population and electorally that tends to help the Republicans unless we can make some inroads.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. Shift south is part of the problem, but local demographic shifts as well

Note that in 1988 Dukakis won Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota AND WV easily.
Something has changed in those states, and I can tell you what it is: Unions have been culturally divided. God and guns are now more important than the wallet.
It is sad.

[WI_DEM]

6. true

people used to post here that they were sure we would win "all the Gore" states. this election proved that is not necessarily the case. I consider Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota to be swing states.

The states we have as our base are: New York, New England states (except NH which is a swing state), Illinois, and the West Coast. Somehow we do need to make inroads elsewhere.

[pstokely]

10. there's a shift to the west

Chimp had to put effort into CO, barely won NV

[davidinalameda]

5. I don't understand what your point is

population shifts

Ohio has lost population as have the other rust belt states

California has added millions of new people in 20 plus years

[WI_DEM]

7. Yes, California and the West coast has gained

and we benefit from that, but GOP gains from huge population gains in the South while electorally we lose ground in the East and Midwest in states which are part of our electoral base. Overall even with California, Oregon and Washington gaining electoral votes we still lose 18 electoral votes.

[DCal]

8. That is an ominous sign for future elections

States in the northeast and midwest will continue to lose electoral votes with each reapportionment.

So, it will be harder and harder to put together 270 electoral votes by focusing only on the northeast, midwest and pacific coast states.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. the solution

The solution, of course, is to do away with the electoral college. Then we won't have Democrats' votes disappear when they move from a swing state to a red state.