Motley Moose – Archive

In the wake of the recent elections: an essay by a conservative analyst that is making the rounds, after the jump ….  

By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

The electoral college is one of the lingering undemocratic parts of American politics. Unlike almost every other country in the world, America elects its presidents not via the popular vote but rather via a strange system of “electoral votes” distributed by states. The good news is that this system generally reflects the popular will. The bad news is that it occasionally fails, as last happened in 2000.

Since then there has been a push to reform the electoral college so that all states cast their electoral votes for the winners of the popular vote. Currently half the states needed to implement the reform have signed on.

More below.

You currently seem all caught up in the idea of adopting the congressional district system that’s currently used by Maine and Nebraska.  You believe that it would give you a hand up in those Democratic and swing states where you control the legislature and the governorship.  You also know that everyone sees through what you’re doing and realize that it’s nothing more than a naked power grab.  Therefore, I have a little piece of advice for all of you.  Dispense with the pleasantries and formality of democracy.  Dispense with the whole concept of letting the people vote for their president.  Openly, and completely, embrace your naked power grab that attempts to subvert the will of the people and prevent that evil Democrat Party from doing pesky things like winning election.

So, how, exactly, can this be done?  It’s good that you ask.  You claim to love the Constitution and only want to enforce it.  Well, there’s a provision in the Constitution that would allow you to do exactly that.  It’s Article II, Section 1, second paragraph:

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

See these words:

in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct

?

That means you don’t have to hold elections to appoint electors.  You can just state that your state will have their electors appointed by the legislature, rather than by popular vote.  This means that you can just appoint Republican electors and it won’t matter that the people you claim to represent support a Democratic candidate for president and vice president.  You’re just exercising your constitutional authority.  It’s perfectly legal and it’s perfectly undemocratic.  In fact, there’s even precedent for it.  In the early days of the Republic, nearly all states had electors appointed by the legislature and not elected by popular vote.  In fact, it wasn’t until after the Civil War that South Carolina finally gave up that practice and every state saw presidential and vice presidential electors voted in by the people.

The Moose is Loose, here we go again! From our national trackers:

Rasmussen

Obama 48, McCain 48

Gallup

Obama 48, McCain 44

Daily Kos/Research 2000

Obama 49, McCain 43

Diageo/Hotline

Obama 47, McCain 42

Some small movement; as you can see, McCain moved up one to tie Obama in the Rasmussen tracker, and Obama gained some ground in the Diageo tracker. All said, we can see the same trend, with the R2K and Rasmussen trackers flanking each end- Obama’s slightly ahead, nationally.

Let’s be serious for a moment.

(Crossposted at MyDD)

What is John McCain’s path to victory?  Does he even have one?  If you look at Pollster.com’s state of the race, you’ll see that the numbers currently stand at 260 EVs for Obama, 179 for McCain, and 99 tossup.  In order to win the election, a candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes.  In other words, out of the 99 tossup EVs, Obama needs 10, while McCain needs 91.

It isn’t completely hopeless for John McCain, though.  Let’s examine how he might win this election.