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Home Front: Politix
Feinstein wants end to Electoral College
2004-12-23
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that when Congress returns in January, she will propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a one-person, one-vote one-party system for electing the nation's president and vice president.
"We don't think Wyoming should have any influence in the electoral process. Nobody we know lives there!"
In introducing the amendment, the Democrat from San Francisco is joining Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who last month introduced a similar proposal in the House, which she said she would reintroduce in the 109th Congress that convenes on Jan. 3. The two California lawmakers say the current system makes most Americans election bystanders, pointing toward the recent campaign in which President Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, focused almost all their time, energy and campaign funds on a handful of undecided states in search of their electoral votes.
Instead of the civilized East and Left coasts.
"The Electoral College is an anachronism, and the time has come to bring our democracy into the 21st century," Feinstein said in a statement. "During the founding years of the republic, the Electoral College may have been a suitable system, but today it is flawed and amounts to national elections being decided in several battleground states.''
"Those damm people in fly-over country with their outdated values keep denying us our permanent grip on power!"
But explain how it's flawed, Diane. Why shouldn't Wyoming have as much of a voice in the election as it has in Congress? Or were you thinking of yanking its representatives and giving them to Marin County?
Despite some popular appeal, the proposal faces a difficult road to passage. It takes a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress followed by ratification by 38 states for a constitutional amendment to become law.
Including those pesky Red states
Like Wyoming.
Posted by:Steve

#20  has anyone bothered to look at turnout figures by state? if blue state republicans had, overall, significantly lower turnout than red state democrats, then direct election would have probably increased Bush's popular vote margin.

Poor idiotic DiFi. She still thinks that election turnout is driven by MSM advertising in major TV markets. The Dems blew tens of millions on ads in the greater NYC market and Bush increased his share of the NYC are vote by 36 percent vs 2000. Has DiFi even heard of Rove's 1.4 million volunteers?

Also, the only real hope for the Dems in upcoming presidential elections is to win a few of the rapidly growing southwestern and rocky mountain states. Direct election would nullify these gains and magnify the Republicans' superiority in turning out their base in not just Texas but also pro-Repub counties across California and New York.
Posted by: lex   2004-12-23 10:51:10 PM  

#19  But I'll bet a staffer had to explain it to her. She's remarkably uninsightful... As for the "cardboard cut-outs" - she's a "grocery store checkout news" politician...
Posted by: .com   2004-12-23 6:48:49 PM  

#18  Uh, Floting Granter5198, I think she knows exactly that.

She's counting on it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-12-23 6:32:56 PM  

#17  This shows just how STUPID feinstein is. She knows nothing about our system of checks and balances. If the Electoral College were abolished, Presidents would be elected by Massachussetts and New York liberals.....PERIOD!
Posted by: Floting Granter5198   2004-12-23 4:54:35 PM  

#16  By Feinstein's logic, and I use the term loosely, the Senate is an anachronism, since the number of senators representing each state does not depend on the population of that state. That was the whole point of having a senate.
Posted by: Matt   2004-12-23 4:37:15 PM  

#15  All right, then, let's dump the EC. Instead, the election will simply be 1 state = 1 vote. We need to strengthen the states against the central government.

Oh, and and as a package deal, let's have term limits for Senators.
Posted by: jackal   2004-12-23 3:39:02 PM  

#14  Is old DiFi shopping for a legacy issue - something that will put her in the history books? The ClueBat says this isn't it either, DiFi. Keep looking - you'll find something warm and fluffy amd suitably pointless eventually...
Posted by: .com   2004-12-23 3:30:27 PM  

#13  I had a person that lives here explain to me that those who don't live in a place like San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York don't lead real lives or have real interests; they're like the cardboard people you see at the movie theater.

Throw a burning match on her. I bet she lights up like the rest of us.
Posted by: badanov   2004-12-23 3:28:19 PM  

#12  The most charming expression I have heard used in San Francisco is "carboard cut-out people." I had a person that lives here explain to me that those who don't live in a place like San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York don't lead real lives or have real interests; they're like the cardboard people you see at the movie theater.

I informed her that she had gotten it backwards.
Posted by: Secret Master   2004-12-23 3:26:24 PM  

#11  I doubt she'd allow Californians outside LA and the Bay Area to count - too many of "the wrong people"
Posted by: Frank G   2004-12-23 2:26:50 PM  

#10  DiFi wants to do alot of stuff like grab you guns.
"She can bite my shiney metal ass" once again.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-23 1:47:46 PM  

#9  Bwahahahaha!

The folks in Wyoming and North Dakota are sure to vote for this one. This is the last amendment passed before the one replacing the Constitution with Sharia.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-12-23 1:44:28 PM  

#8  This would be a nightmare with every vote contested everywhere. But I'm not concerned because it would have to be approved by a lot of states that aren't as foolish as she is. This is not a pure democracy, it is a republic. There are good reasons for that.
Posted by: Tom   2004-12-23 1:19:01 PM  

#7  It a fairly decent and fair blend of population, land mass and wealth.

Now... Joe Biden on the other hand...
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-23 1:16:31 PM  

#6  News flash Dianne, we live in a REPUBLIC, not a democracy. Checks and balances chum. Now, I know you libdems hate that checks and balances stuff since it keeps you from having perminate power, but you are gonna have to live with it or you ain't gonna live.

Have a merry CHRISTmas!
Posted by: mmurray821   2004-12-23 1:14:26 PM  

#5  Bomb-a-rama beat me to it.

The Electoral College is not strictly democratic, but neither is the Senate, and noone complains about that.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2004-12-23 12:52:25 PM  

#4  Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday that when Congress returns in January, she will propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a one-person, one-vote system for electing the nation's president and vice president.

What's next? Apportioning U.S. Senate seats based on population concentration?

"The Electoral College is an anachronism, and the time has come to bring our democracy into the 21st century," Feinstein said in a statement.

Odd, but I don't recall that the beginning of a new 100 year cycle necessitated making changes that never needed to be made before.

"During the founding years of the republic, the Electoral College may have been a suitable system, but today it is flawed and amounts to national elections being decided in several battleground states."

Abolish the Electoral College, and all a candidate has to do is capture most major metropolitan areas (typical Democrat strongholds, no less) and voila!

Now shut the phuque up, Feinstein, and go peddle your scheme somewhere else.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-12-23 12:46:17 PM  

#3  How dare those candidates spend time in those states without huge populations......who do those people think they are?
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2004-12-23 12:38:11 PM  

#2  One word, Dianne: "personholes"
Posted by: mojo   2004-12-23 12:25:38 PM  

#1  After the abolishment of the Electorial College they will install a Caliphate. Then those pesky red staters will know what fear is. I am thinking of running against her in 06. Given the past performance of Republican candidates, I can't do much worse.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-12-23 12:20:10 PM  

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