Schwarzenegger gives chilly reception to GOP scheme to deprive Dems of California electoral votes

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Calif. Gov. Wary of Electoral-Vote Plan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 23, 2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a chilly reception Thursday to a GOP-backed plan to change the way California awards electoral votes in presidential elections -- a proposal critics say could tilt the outcome in favor of Republicans. ''In principle, I don't like to change the rules in the middle of the game,'' the Republican governor told reporters.

Schwarzenegger added he wasn't versed in details of the ballot proposal and stressed he wasn't taking a definitive position. But his uneasy response is likely to make it harder for supporters to build momentum and could chill fundraising.

The proposed ballot initiative is being pushed by Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer in a Sacramento firm that represents the state Republican Party. A draft of the proposed initiative says nixing the winner-take-all system would give presidential candidates ''an incentive to campaign in California.''

California currently awards all 55 of its electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections -- the largest single prize in the nation. Under the proposal, the winner would get only two electoral votes and the rest would be distributed to the winning candidate in each of the state's congressional districts. That, in effect, would create 53 races, each with one electoral vote up for grabs.

Although liberal-leaning California has gone Democratic in the last four presidential elections, 19 of its 53 congressional districts are represented by Republicans. A Republican presidential candidate could lose the state overall but still pick up 19 electoral votes if he or she finished first in each of those districts. During the 2004 election, President Bush was handily defeated in California but carried 22 of the state's districts. If the proposed change had been in effect then, he would have been awarded 22 of the state's electoral votes with Democrat John Kerry winning the rest.

Of the 50 states, only Maine and Nebraska allocate electoral votes by congressional district....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-California-Votes.html

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. He doesn't like to change rules in the middle of the game

But he had no problem recalling a governor in the middle of his duly elected term.

[billbuckhead]

2. Arnie has proved to be just another Enron crook

I wouldn't trust him anymore than any other corrupt politician.

[Trajan]

3. Let's make this clear ....

The people of California are NOT going to approve this nonsense ....

No fucking way .....

[Hekate]

4. Trajan, were you here when my idiot fellow citizens tossed out Gray Davis and installed Ahnold?

Just asking.

And btw, if that selfsame Ahnold actually manages to chill this particular new initiative, I for one will be grateful.

Hekate

[Frances]

6. Good post

I remember when people said that no way would Maria allow Arnold to run for governor. Then they said Arnold wouldn't win. Well, Arnold didn't get my vote, but he did win.

So, as much as I dislike Arnold, I do hope he won't support this blatant attempt to install a Republican president who will turn around and pardon Bush when Bush is finally held accountable for his many misdeeds.

[Trajan]

7. I was there .....

I lived in CA from 1965 to 2004 ....

Gray had a big problem .... He approved that gawd awful energy contract (yeah yeah, it was fraudulent, but he signed off on it nevertheless) .... and: He was up against the Governator .....

Arnold's election was due to his public persona .... and his reduction of GOP rhetoric .... Arnold presented himself, policy wise, as a Democrat .....

California has a long tradition of giving ALL the marbles to the winner ..... it makes it a huge prize .... There is NO WAY the Democrats of CA or the USA are going to let this happen ....

[sce56]

10. As I recall Davis got 49% of the vote to not recall Arnhold only got 33% to replace Davis

So Ahnohld would have lost if it were a real election not a recall!

[Hekate]

11. However, as Joe Wilson pointed out when he spoke at UCSB: "Regime change isn't just for Baghdad"...

Wilson came here during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, but that particular statement was a direct reference to the recall campaign against Gray Davis that was then taking place.

Wilson seemed to believe, with some justification, that the Republicans were milking our energy "crisis" for all it was worth so they could install a Republican governor.

We wuz mugged and robbed.

Hekate

[frylock]

5. word up!

:mad:

[illinoisprogressive]

8. He smells that his party is cooking up a rat and smells it.

[rwenos]

9. Arnie Doesn't Need National Pubbies

Schwarzenegger doesn't need the national Republican Party. I'm sure his died-in-the-wool Democratic wife has pointed this out to him. (Wanna get a rise out of a Pub? Remind them who Arnie sleeps with. Drives 'em NUTS.)

Arnie tried the RW schtick, and flamed out in 2004. He's a liberal Republican, and will probably go back to H'wood to make megabucks after he's done as Governor.

That ballot proposition, by the way, is CLASSIC California initiative fraud. It's being pitched at grocery stores on Saturday mornings as a measure to "restore California's power. in national elections." Lies piled on lies piled on lies.