We Won! BREAKING NEWS: Electoral initiative backers give up
Congratulations to the Courage Campaign and everyone that joined in. I was going to fight this to the end. Remember, we have more voters than they do, so they need to cheat to win. We must always fight for our right to vote and not let the system get played by the sneaky Republican operatives.
Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California's 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.
In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday's print editions, The Times' Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.
Thank Goodness! John, you have just made my day a little brighter. No, scratch that, it's a lot brighter :)
Great news, thank you!
The Reslugs don't know any other way to win, but to CHEAT or RIG the vote.
awe, rePUKElicans arent gonna be able to cheat? say it aint so.
Now they'll have to resort to simply cheating.
YES!!
I'm not sure if this is good or bad. People regularly come on this site to say we should get rid of the electoral college period, apparently not knowing that would require a constitutional amendment.
If Florida's electoral votes were by district in 2000, would we now be excoriating a President Gore?
We must always fight for our right to vote
I prefer to always fight for my right to party!
Careful now, make sure they don't try to come back under the radar when everyone's proud of themselves and celebrating...
'WE THE PEOPLE' ARE COMING!!!!
What is wrong with doing this, but on a national scale, all at once?
Let's not start fellatiating each other just yet! We all know the Republicans are loath to give up power and Mr. Rove is still in play. I wouldn't rule out that this this entire action being a feint to distract us from the actual October Surprise (bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb bomb Iran)
I'm surprised. I thought that some billionaire would bankroll the effort and have petitioners at Walmart getting paid 7 bucks an hour. They just gave up? Lets not count our chickens
Well......this improved my morning. The answer to the preceding question is "nothing, but they weren't trying to do this to the whole county.....just blue California"
V V
Only refer to "Mr. Rove" by his proper name....."turdblossom"
V V
I know, but why aren't we calling out for this being done, on a national scale, rather than just complain about one state? Why not organize it so that we approve of the change, as long as it is passed in every other state as well. That way, they cannot use the excuse that it allows everyone's votes to count, when it's just an underhanded move to gain votes.
Force THEM to find out a reason to fight it.
BUT ME MUST PERSUE THOSE CRIMINALS AND MAKE SURE THEY DO THEIR TIME IN PRISON FOR THEIR G.O.P.PER CRIMES THEY COMMITED IN TRYING THIS!
YOU KNOW THEY DID CRIMES!
Don't take your eye off the ball. These losers are scum and haven't given up. Best solution in national majority vote. Second best is eliminate Senate count in electoral college. Third best is to beat 'em at it, by forcing just this issue in Ohio, Texas and Florida.
Finally a stop for the Gerry-mandering move. They kind of got away with that in Texas to the GOP's advantage, but America seems to be catching on (FINALLY) to the dirty, sleazy, rotten triks of the GOP.
Thank goodness, yes. But eternal vigilance is necessary, since the radical rightwingnuts are relentless.
Awesome news. The Courage Campaign rules
Next to try this crap will probably Florida.
I hope they keep a very close eye on these guys.
Klepto Karl @ 18:
Exactly. They will not quit trying to destroy this country. They've enacted a feint to drain off the attention, then when the 'coast is clear' they will begin again in earnest. We will never 'win' until Bush is in GITMO and the administration is locked up. Until that is a reality, they will keep throwing resources at us.
Where do you think those missing BILLIONS will eventually end up? You think republicans don't know where billions of dollars went? (Yes, just a theory, but since these Constitution-shredding maneuvers require endless funding, what better way to funnel $$$?)
They haven't given up...not by a long shot.
Winning one battle doesn't win the war.......but it's a start.
Congrads John!
Being the cynical bitch I am I can only assume this means that they probably intended this as a distraction and are actually working on something else in another location that they wanted to draw attention away from. They'll use the "loss" as more fodder for the "libs r teh evil" campaign in general.
Keep an eye open for signature gathering, though... do we trust them?
Hell no.
Is it really done? Maybe, I'll believe it when the signature submission deadline is past...
California is the land of fruit and nuts but we are true Blue and every once in a while we get it right. Woo Hoo.
Why not reverse the strategy? Let's all ask that EACH AND EVERY VOTE BE ALLOWED TO SELECT THE PRESIDENT.
Then we won't need the Electorial College, we can just count the votes across the entire US of A.
One small vote for a man, One Giant Vote for Mankind.
Gore would have won on that concept.
Never say never! These people just keep going in some other devious way. They will not go away. They will emerge and plow forward. They have the power of 'satan' behind them.
Hallelujah! Glory Be!
Honestly? This would be okay if Florida did it first. The only reason this is a problem is because if California is the only state doing it, it makes all the difference between a Republican winning the election and a Democrat. If all the other states continue with the Electoral College the way it is and California basically apportions them according to percentage, then a Republican will win on close contests.
Electoral College votes are apportioned to states based on the size of the polity residing there. The notion that all the electoral votes go to the winner of the election in that state is not law, but by tradition might as well be. My suggestion is to allow this sort of proportional representation of votes to be allocated, starting first with Florida. If that had happened when Gore was running, he would have won the election without any questions. If it had been that way for all states, he also would have won.
What makes this move by the Republicans so reprehensible is that they'd look for this proportional representation in a state that tends to majority in the Democratic Party camp, but still has a large number of Replublican votes. It's like a blackjack dealer. You can win against him, but because he wins the ties, over the long run he always wins.
Congratulations.
The knife cuts both ways. Would you be against the same attempt to proportionately represent Democrats in a state which consistently votes Republican?
ysbaddaden @ 7:
I'm sure it's a good thing. I see no reason California of all states should be allocating their electoral votes by district while other states that are repug strongholds that won't do the same.
Repugs hate fair elections. They cage minority voters and short change Democratic leaning districts of voting machines.
Each and everyone of these "electoral initiative backers" can go fuck themselves sideways.
This is GREAT NEWS!!!
ysbaddaden @ 7:
It's all good, dude. I think state electoral votes should be awarded by district -- but only if all 50 states are on board. This was clearly a case of cherry-picking one state for partisan advantage.
Hoorah! Bush's 'henchmen' lose big this time! The Repukes will not be able to hack the campaign in 08 because, by then, there will be few Registered Republicans left to vote. If they finagle with the numbers and cook the totals, it will be so obvious that the people will riot this time.
Let's face it: The GOP will have to lie, steal, and cheat till the cows come home to win this next election....and the one after that.....and the one after that. No american wants to see another Republican president in their lifetime! They've "ex-ed" themselves into extinction.
This is the best news I have had all week. We must remain vigilant, because these people are not going away, they are just looking for another strategy.
This is good news.
As others have said: to be a republican is to cheat and "win" unfairly. They play dirty. This is why I would like to see this party of thieves deconstructed.
Sure looks to me that when "God" enters the political picture, Satan takes over.
If they want to use only the popular vote to elect presidents, then fine. But to only go after California is so transparently desperate by the Repugs it's almost pitiable. They can't win in the next election, so they try stunts like this, tougher ID laws, road blocks, wiping minorities from the voting lists, providing less voting machines in Democratic regions, etc. If every American voted in every election, there wouldn't be a single Republican in office.
Good! Now let's push the same legislation in Texas.
Avery Davis @ 12:
Who do you think we are? Republicans?
Remember the number one campaign issue for the GOP will be voter fraud... committing it, not preventing it. What they lack in popular support, they intend to make up by theft. Evidently Nevada is a target state, since it's population is trending blue, a little hackery is going to be needed to keep it in red column.
Orion@39 is correct. That a couple arrests or the top 5-6 tiers of DOJ resigning in disgrace is going to slow them down is ludicrous. This is blood sport.
donviti @ 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NdAUnnU9Ac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP90F-OXHJU
Sad when you think that this is such great news considering all the losses we've had over the last several years.
Sadly, this seems like the first "victory" for the PEOPLE that we have even experienced in 6.5 years. Can somebody remind me of something else "good" that has happened?
Good job John! THANKS!
Umm... how is this so much different than the effort in Colorado a couple years back to divide the electoral votes by percentage each candidate gets of popular vote in the state? That would have been a benefit to Dems at the time and was only being considered in one state, if I remember correctly. It certainly wasn't a nationwide effort. Maybe we shouldn't be so fast to throw out too many accusations about one side or the other trying to "cheat and steal" to win an election.
ReallyEvilCanine @ 35:
No, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't recognize it as an attempt to game the system to gain a partisan advantage. I'd fully expect the Republicans to block such a measure anyway, and wouldn't complain when it happens. I would actually like to see proportional representation on a national scale which would make the elections fairer. So I wouldn't really be bothered by this in comparison to truly dirty tactics that Republicans have used to comparison to this tactic which changes the value of each voter in a state in which the value an individual voter were already skewered by the electoral college.
If someone honestly wanted to change the proportional representation and weren't just trying to change the value of certain voters in your favor, they would have made it a national issue or at least done it in a state that has close to a 50/50 split for both parties.
Liberal AND Proud @ 44:
*plays drum rimshot*
Vitam Vas @ 15:
Is that his official xtian name?
Not much good news out there but this sure is some wonderful news. Like most, I think the EC is terribly outdated. Do it solely by popular vote. But if you are going to apportion by county, do it everywhere. I wouldn't even like it if the Dems tried this in FLA or OH etc. *CHEER*
bill w @ 52:
No, but seeing as he is a GWB worshiper more then he is a Christian, that really doesn't matter. If the fuhrer says your name is Turdblossom, then you certainly can't go against dear leader on this point.
"We Won"??? What exactly have we won?
If 45% of the people in a state voted for the green party but they are in the minority, it seems just plain wrong to give all 100% of the electoral votes to some other group. What about those 45% of the people?
If there wasn't this all or nothing BS with the electoral votes, there would be less of a stranglehold of the political system by democrats and republicans. In case you haven't been paying attention, both groups are failing this country.
Thugs never give up. They pick another target, sneak back in during the dead of night, wait for the public to get excited about something else. Ask any environmentalist. We have fought them back this time, but just like a bad penny, they will turn up again. Constant vigilance! We have to win every year--they only have to win once.
Nick @ 11:
nothing at all. In fact, I think elections would be better if done this way. It just needs to be every state that has to do it in order for it to be fair. why single out California? because thats were a decent amount of electoral votes are that would go to the rebubs if this got past. unfortunately for them, I think they would have a problem holding on to their red state agenda by doing this with states like Texas and Florida
We are living in California. This was breaking news two weeks ago. While the press and blogs were still pounding this story, it was already decided in the state.
noitaluspacne @ 54:
I think your ideas are right, however, we need a new Constitutional Convention to implement fairer representation; we need a Parliamentarian system but the Constitution doesn't provide for that. In fact, when the Constituion was drawn up the founding fathers didn't want political parties to develop at all.
If there was a new Constitutional Convention--something the evangelical christians have pushed for since the 1980s--we would run the risk of ending up with some kind of conservative tyranny.
It it frustrating to not have your vote really count, and to feel that you don't have representation, (that's exactly how I feel right now) but for the '08 election all liberals should vote for the Democratic candidate to prevent a facist dictatorship in this country. Maybe if we could get a good Democratic administration we could start working on the idea of a more progressive form of government.
Vitam Vas @ 15:
that's MR. turdblossom to you dear sir!
Great news and I never really expected this to go anywhere anyway (just seemed like a cheap stunt to make the CA Dems squander some resources to kill it), but best keep an eye out to make sure it doesn't pop up again. GOP electoral schemes are like Rasputin; just when you think they're dead, they pop up for more.
Lord of Karma @ 50:
And the interesting thing is, since Reagan there has been tons of gerrymandering by the Republicans to eliminate Democratic seats. People still don't want Republicans and I think the repugs don't have any real gripe.
not sure if you guys have seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6X-xtVask
its a local texas news report on how state legislators are illegally casting multiple votes on state amendments. includes footage of the lawmakers blatantly running around and casting votes for other legislators.
bushater @ 22:
I think Crist will not be amenable to all the neo-Con crap that Jeb Bush supported. Remember, Florida had twelve years of BushCo. Lots of Floridians hate Jeb Bush.
I agree with MargeAggedon, I think there is no end to KKKarl's corrupt tricks.
Chuck @ 29:
exactly. ban the electoral college all together.
kaT @ 58:
sorry accidently quoted my comments as Kat's
i apologize, bit of a newb here.
I look forward to the day to being happy about a good thing happening v. a bad thing not happening. But I'll take it.
Chuck @ 29:
i agree. get rid of the electoral college all together.
Really... let's not be so hypocritical:
http://tinyurl.com/37cwa4
"Colorado Electoral College reform fails
Move to proportional representation defeated overwhelmingly"
"The measure was strongly opposed by state and national Republican leaders, who feared it would have been a boon to Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) presidential campaign. If the measure had passed, Kerry would have received four of Colorado's electoral votes. Instead, President Bush captured all of Colorado's support, going on to win the election."
Each state is allowed to decide how its electoral votes are distributed, so working to get the state legislature to change the way they are distributed isn't cheating. That's the system, as bad as it may be. It may even be that if CA went ahead and made the change, other states would be more eager to follow their lead. Maybe doing it just a few months before an election isn't great timing as it leaves no time for other states to change their process, but the idea itself isn't inherently evil.
This is indeed gret important news.
yet, is the petition pulled off the table?
Backers of the petition may be yanking anchor chain, that doesn't mean it is over and a final.
But, this is good news from Calif for the nation......................................
Just keep an eye on Darryl Issa (sp?) in Calif. He was involve it the Davis removal and the Govenator placement. He can't win Govenor (which he tried and failed). So he tries to stay a major player for the neo cons in Calif. I am surprised he didn't end up in the Bush Adm somewhere. There again with the secrecy of Bush, Issa may be a Cheney " in the shadows " employee............................................
awh @ 67:
Here I am, holding an adorable, fluffy, 10-week old golden retriever pup. Cute, isn't it? Dontcha just wanna rub it's little ears and kiss it's 'ittle nose? Now, I am going to hand it to a run-of-the-mill neocon. Ooops! There ya go, gently now, Edward Gerrymander Hands; he's still just a baby. No, no, no eating of the puppy!
So, we'll give that minute or so aaaand....yes, there is the change. The puppy is now pure evil. That's all it takes.
ysbaddaden @ 46:
SWEET!~!!!
This Machine Kills Fascists @ 27:
They needs millions of dollars and have to have the signatures turned in by a certain date. I asked these questions already...They won't have the time to slip it in when we're not looking...And if they try to do something sneaky, we'll be there...
Don't you believe it. Like the guy in Harry Potter, Americans must be 'ever vigilant' for the rethuglican snake in the wood pile. Countering rethug voter caging is the never-ending game of 'wack-a-mole.'
Yes, this is good news, but - initiatives like this don't seem to just "go away" - it may fly under the radar for now, but don't believe - for a minute - that they have given up on it. They'll look for another time and angle to approach it from - either this election or the next. We'll see it again.
The rethuglicans are simply too desperate for any and all ways they can steal elections. It's all they know how to do. Cheat, steal and lie.
*
Bonkers @ 73:
In other words, IOKIYD?
Vitam Vas @ 15:
Or his skirt name.... "Miss Piggy"
Oh, good.
"Eternal vigilance." Never in the history of our republic has that phrase been more apt, or the threat been greater.
One apparent victory is no real cause for celebration as long as the threat of a permanent fascist takeover looms unabated and defenders of the constitution are the exception rather than the rule in our legislatures.
Lord of Karma @ 50
No, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t recognize it as an attempt to game the system to gain a partisan advantage.
So you'll admit to the gaming of the system and therefore necessarily to the unfairness of this.
they would have made it a national issue or at least done it in a state that has close to a 50/50 split for both parties
Someone doesn't understand Realpolitik. When the margin is close there's no real incentive to press for change. Only when the underrepresentation is clearly and demonstrably lopsided does the incentive appear.
Yes California has learned that the posibilities was there. What I mean was the opportunity for the republicans to turn California into a RED STATE as perpetrated by TOM DELAY when he successfully schemed to accomplish redistricting in his home town TEXAS, which help borne the culture of corruption, TEXAS (cowboy) style in the the TOP office of the United State and into the White House.
It is this kind of abuses that can enable to change a system that generate opportunity for a special interest even at the detriment that worked for the society for generation back. The republicans want to change anything that would help advance their party and interest without regards to how it may impact the peoples lives in that community.
Lets not forget the capacity of politicians to move and make such actions to go forward. That is WHY it is imperative that a STRONG check and balance is in place. As we say in accounting profession, without a tight internal control in place, will expose any organization to abuse and dishosty. To have "check and balance" in place will keep people HONEST. Loopholes invites corruption. And in the relm of checks and balances, this duty is expanded to the community by laws, regulations, enforcements and community oversight by interanal operations as well as independent organization such as ethics and professional organizations and political constituents and whistleblowers organization and operational audit practitioners.
Thanks for highlighting this story. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a billionaire GOP supporter and member of Giuliani's finance committee was the big money behind this initiative. [LINK]
I've also written a blog post on some interesting tidbits about the other major players Hiltachk and Hurth, both veterans of electoral shenanigans. Mr. Hurth was also involved, believe it or not, in an ass-biting incident. [LINK]
What????????...this is not like them....BUT I'LL TAKE IT.....a whole lotta people must of signed that petition..........I'm glad I did...and I e-mailed it to all Repub friends....and Dems too...But I got a kick out of sending it to my repubs friends..hehehehe.
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