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Electoral College & Democrats

Friday, April 27 at 12:56 PM

Jeff Kocsis of Littleton writes:

Re: Democrats vs. the electoral college

Because Al Gore lost a close election in 2000, Democrats keep clamoring for us to abandon the electoral college in favor of simply adopting the popular vote as the means of determining the winners of our presidential elections. Here’s a hypothetical scenario I’m sure they would have enjoyed: In the 2004 election, had John Kerry taken 70,000 Ohio votes from George Bush, there would have been no question about Kerry’s winning Ohio and the election. Kerry wins 272 electoral votes to Bush’s 266, a clear victory, but Bush would have won the election with a popular vote count of 62 million to 59 million, also a clear victory, and one that would have satisfied the Democrats who keep clamoring for abandonment of the electoral college. Be careful what you wish for!

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Of course it always helps when most of the vote counters work for you.

Posted by on April 27, 2007 03:06 PM

It must give all you electoral college defenders a warm fuzzy feeling to know that your presidential vote here in Colorado counts about one third as much as one cast just north of the state line in Wyoming. How fair is that?

Posted by Docjay on April 27, 2007 03:31 PM

Much more fair than being ignored in favor of the major liberal urban areas.

Posted by on April 27, 2007 03:49 PM

Doesn't CA have a Republican governor? Didn't MA have one, too? Doesn't NYC have another Republican Mayor? Urban areas, including Denver metro, NEVER vote monolithically (see CO's 6th. Congressional District).

Posted by M 242 on April 27, 2007 03:56 PM

All the money is made in those "liberal urban areas"!

Why sould some 5.55 an hours Wyomingite have MORE voting power than a zillion dollar Coloradan?

Posted by Right Wing Nut on April 27, 2007 04:45 PM

Tell me when CO's 1st or 2nd congressional district went Republican.

Posted by on April 27, 2007 05:09 PM

Who cares? (Although the 1st district did go Republican once, and only for two years at that, but I cannot remember exactly when at this moment.) The election patterns of the 1st or 2nd District do not reflect the totality of the metro area. In other words (again), the Denver Metro Area is not monolithically Democratic. Besides, remember that the 7th District has gone both ways since its inception. Once again (am I going to have to be ad nauseaum here?), the Denver Metro Area is not monolithically Democratic, as other metro areas are not either.

Posted by M 242 on April 27, 2007 05:17 PM

Of course Denver doesn't vote monolithically. It just always votes Democrat.

Posted by clyde on April 28, 2007 08:30 AM

clyde,

Then how come Tom Tancredo keeps getting returned to Congress from his District, which is largely South-West Denver?

He's certainly no "Democrat" anyone in the Party would recognize as being such.

Posted by Old Grouch on April 28, 2007 10:19 AM

"Why sould some 5.55 an hours Wyomingite have MORE voting power than a zillion dollar Coloradan?"

This is funny, an attempt to be sarcastic that ends up being facetious.

Posted by on April 28, 2007 10:50 PM