Tuesday, September 05, 2006

California Dreamin'
I don't know what's gotten into the water in California, but they're on a tear passing dramatic legislation, and mostly getting support from the Governator. Last week, I posted about legislation that's infuriated the religious right, and another bill that set new emission standards. Now, Kevin Drum relays that the state is poised to take on the electoral college, if their plan is constitutional...which sounds like a big "if."
Under the legislation, California would grant its electoral votes to the nominee who gets the most votes nationwide — not the most votes in California....The California legislation would not take effect until enough states passed such laws to make up a majority of the Electoral College votes — a minimum of 11 states, depending on population.
I have mixed feelings about the electoral college. But right now, today, I'm ready to scrap it. Either way, some parts of the country will not receive significant attention from presidential candidates. But I just can't think that it's cool for the majority of Americans not to decide who the President will be. Dump the electoral college and everyone knows their vote counts, not just people living in states where it's close. Yeah, it would take some of the calculating, tactical fun out of the campaign and out of the vote-tally coverage, but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

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