http://www.comcast.net/news/politics/ind ex.jsp?cat=POLITICS&fn=/2007/07/31/7 27756.html

I wanted to take a closer look at the ramifications of this story:

California awards its cache of 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections _ the largest single prize in the nation. But a prominent Republican lawyer wants to put a proposal on the ballot that would award the statewide winner only two electoral votes.

The rest would be distributed to the winning candidate in each of the state's congressional districts. In effect, that would create 53 races, each with one electoral vote up for grabs.

California has voted Democratic in the last four presidential elections. But the change _ if it qualifies for one of two primary ballots next year and is approved by voters _ would mean that a Republican would be positioned the following November to snatch 20 or more electoral votes in GOP-leaning districts.

This could be disasterous for our Presidential aspirations. If California votes to allow its electors to be split, this could be akin to winning another state or two. As this story points out, just twenty of the California electors peeled off would mean the practical loss of another state. 20 or more electors would be akin to losing another Ohio.

But why would California consider doing this? Look at this paragraph:

A draft of the proposed initiative says nixing the winner-take-all system would give presidential candidates "an incentive to campaign in California. ... Many of the geographic areas of the state would be as important to a candidate's chance for victory as many of the smaller states."

Now, this makes little sense to me. It seems candidates already have plenty of reason to campaign in California with the huge amounts of electors and money to be had there. It seems to me that California isn't ignored either in the primary or general elections. I think Republicans there are just tired of getting beat over and over, so instead of changing their radical agenda which is out of the mainstream of America and California, they hope to tweak the rules and cheat to win some of California's Presidential electors.

Democrats fired back:

Democratic consultant Chris Lehane called the plan "an effort to rig the system in order to fix the election."

"If this change is made, it will virtually guarantee that a Republican wins the White House in 2008," Lehane said in an e-mail.

Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are represented by Republicans. President Bush carried 22 districts in 2004, while losing the statewide vote by double digits.

I agree with Lehane that this is just a scheme to insure a Republican wins the White House in 08, and has nothing to do with the betterment of California or America. It is another partisan attempt by a desperate party of extremists to enforce their will on the majority of the American people who have shunned it. If they can't beat them, they will cheat them!!!

This causes many problems for our party that go beyond the primary and general elections. Check out this paragraph:

If it does qualify, Democrats probably would have to spend millions of dollars to defeat it, which could drain money from other races. And there are expected to be additional ballot proposals on abortion and other social issues that could drive up GOP turnout.

Either way, this is looking like a win-win situation for the Republicans. If they qualify this measure, it will take precious resources that could be used to elect Democrats nationwide, and if they initiative wins, they could use it to cheat America once again and put a Republican in the White House once more against the will of the American people. Talk about sore losers!!!

I hope Democrats in California will rally and unite in an effort to keep this garbage off their ballot. Republicans can't win the hearts and minds of California's Presidential voters, so they are forced to come up with a dishonest scheme to try and trick them into ensuring the Republicans win the White House.

This is what we have come to expect from the Republicans in this country. Their radical agenda does not have the support of the majority of the American people. Instead of changing their radical agenda that has failed, and moving into the mainstream of America, they would rather decieve and trick the people of California into insuring a Republican victory. It is totally disgraceful!! I hope California voters will rise up against this dishonest power-grab and help insure Democracy in America!!