How the republicons plan on stealing 2008

[liberal N proud]

I missed this before today, anyone else seen it?

Votescam

Two weeks ago, one of the most important Republican lawyers in Sacramento quietly filed a ballot initiative that would end the practice of granting all fifty-five of California’s electoral votes to the statewide winner. Instead, it would award two of them to the statewide winner and the rest, one by one, to the winner in each congressional district. Nineteen of the fifty-three districts are represented by Republicans, but Bush carried twenty-two districts in 2004. The bottom line is that the initiative, if passed, would spot the Republican ticket something in the neighborhood of twenty electoral votes—votes that it wouldn’t get under the rules prevailing in every other sizable state in the Union.

This is how the republicons are going to steal 2008 and it all hinges on California

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg

[Skink]

1. They were planning on useing the machines after 04's dry run.

[bryant69]

2. I don't know how this will go

It would give them a leg up in 2008, that's for sure, but i don't knwo if they can get this done before then.

And it's not technically stealing. A case can be made that this is better than the current method (even though the current method favors Democrats in California).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Kelvin Mace]

3. This time the theft will be direct

Bush will not step down.

The elections will be canceled for "national security" reasons. Using his new wiretap powers the Vichy Dems have given him, all candidates will be under surveillance and attempts to thwart his power grab will result in arrest for treason on "secret" evidence.

I would put the odds of this happening at 50/50.

As of this past weekend, there is NOTHING the Dems won't give him, and NO crime he can commit which will result in impeachment.

Should Bush not go that route, then you can be sure that the new "legal" wiretaps will be used to funnel useful and damning info the to GOP candidate.

[bullimiami]

11. Kelvin I have to agree with your 50/50.

[OwnedByFerrets]

18. * doesnt have to stay president.......

all they have to do it rig another election....win the presidency and manipulate the stooge from behind the scenes. Nothing changes. And the sheeple go back to watching AI. Monkeyboys are interchangable and dispensable.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Yesm but since their is a minute chance that

a Dem president could be elected, Bush would face prosecution after the fact with no one in the Oval office to protect him.

I don't think he wants to risk it.

[EstimatedProphet]

4. I have to wonder whether this can be legal

The Electoral College operating rules are laid out in the Constitution. A state can't simply decide not to honor it.

[bryant69]

9. Maine already operates on this principle. n/t

[EstimatedProphet]

12. How, though?

I mean, the presidential electoral process was laid out for the entire country. how can the states just change it to suit their own ends? How is that legal?

[bryant69]

15. I don't know - i suppose that the exact method for deciding how to send up

delegates to the electoral college is determined by the state legislatures. Most have gone with a winner take all primary, but Maine hasn't. I think in the past a few other states haven't either; I'd have to go look.

I should also note that for those of you who would like to see a third party spring up some day, splitting representatives according to votes, rather than the winner take all system, makes third parties more viable.

Bryant

[bullimiami]

13. the power of how to allocate their electoral votes is vested in the states.

its not a bad idea but it should be contingent on all states adopting proportional electors.
are texas and florida going to adopt it as well?
i dont think so.

its obviously wrong to target only the other parties strongholds.

[Help me help Earth]

21. Why aren't WE targeting their strongholds?

We lost three elections in a row due to the lack of Republican style game theory on beating the system. If they are doing this in CA (not that it will ever pass) we should be doing it in Texas.

[bullimiami]

26. to be fair we should be pressing for it everywhere.

not just to gain an advantage for one party but to more correctly reflect the will of the voters.

[L. Coyote]

5. There should also be one outlawing paid signature collecting.

The initiative process was never intended to be purchasable. Today, it is dominated by money. If you can afford to buy the signatures, paying for their gathering, you can place your issue on the ballot.

[seriousstan]

7. And put ACORN out of business? Not a bad idea.

[L. Coyote]

10. Acorn is paying to register voters, not proposing initiatives. Big diff

I support paying people who work in voter registration. Even the state pays workers who do that!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Ya, that's gonna pass.

:eyes:

[L. Coyote]

8. which states have the initiative and popular referendum process

http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i&r.htm

[Wednesdays]

14. You can bet the house this won't be the ONLY thing they'll try

Pullin' out all the stops is an understatement. There are hugh stakes involved. Can you say "Swiftboats on steroids?"

[Hawaii Hiker]

16. From Washington Monthly:

ELECTORAL COLLEGE FOLLIES....I see that the latest crackpot initiative from the Golden State has now gotten national attention. Jon Alter writes in the current issue of Newsweek about a plan to carve up California's electoral votes between multiple candidates instead of awarding them all to a single winner in November:

Thomas Hiltachk, who specializes in ballot referenda that try to fool people in the titles and fine print, is sponsoring a ballot initiative for the June 3, 2008, California primary (which now falls four months after the state's presidential primary). The Presidential Election Reform Act would award the state's electoral votes based on who wins each congressional district. Had this idea been in effect in 2004, Bush would have won 22 electoral votes from California, about the same number awarded the winners of states like Illinois or Pennsylvania.

This is obviously something to be concerned about, since reliably-blue California would normally award all 55 of its electoral votes to the Democratic candidate. Under the Hiltachk plan the Democrat would probably get only 30-35 or so.

But I wouldn't panic over this yet. If the powers-that-be decide to fund the signature gathering, they can probably get this thing on the ballot. But Californians have a pretty serious case of initiative fatigue these days, and not many initiatives pass. What's worse (for Republicans, that is), it's nearly impossible to pass a blatantly partisan initiative. It's hard to think of the last one that succeeded.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has spent the last couple of years carefully honing a moderate image and he seems unlikely to endorse this effort. None of the good government groups will go along. The Democratic Party and its allies will spend boatloads of money to defeat it. The odds of success are very, very slim.

On the downside, it will force the Democratic Party and its allies to spend boatloads of money to defeat it. That may be the whole point, in fact. It often is with these things.

[Bitwit1234]

17. I think they are going to stick more BLUE DOGS in also.

[Skink]

20. Can we do this in Texas?

[L. Coyote]

22. NO initiatives in TX. You would need to amend the Constitution. See map above.

[Breeze54]

25. Didn't Delay already fuck up the electoral map in Texas?

You guys need to reverse that asap!!

;)

[Vincardog]

23. Will they agree to the same deal for TEXAS?

[Breeze54]

24. How come the lawyer's name isn't in the OP post?

:wtf:

I would have put his name in spotlights and on loud speakers!!

How does a lawyer file a bill in Cali.? :shrug: Is he elected?

Is he still breathing?? :P .. :sarcasm:

Are Californians marching in the streets against this yet??

Maybe that rethug is trying to pull a fast one but Californians

need to rise up, loudly, in protest!!!