Thank Goodness! John, you have just made my day a little brighter. No, scratch that, it's a lot brighter :)

The Reslugs don't know any other way to win, but to CHEAT or RIG the vote.

Now they'll have to resort to simply cheating.

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?

Careful now, make sure they don't try to come back under the radar when everyone's proud of themselves and celebrating...

What is wrong with doing this, but on a national scale, all at once?

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

Only refer to "Mr. Rove" by his proper name....."turdblossom"

V V

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!

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.

Awesome news. The Courage Campaign rules

I hope they keep a very close eye on these guys.

Winning one battle doesn't win the war.......but it's a start.

Congrads John!

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...

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.

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.

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.

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 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?

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.

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 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.

Good! Now let's push the same legislation in Texas.

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.

Sad when you think that this is such great news considering all the losses we've had over the last several years.

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.

Liberal AND Proud @ 44:

Avery Davis @ 12:

Let's not start fellatiating each other just yet!

Who do you think we are? Republicans?

*plays drum rimshot*

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*

"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.

Nick @ 11:

What is wrong with doing this, but on a national scale, all at once?

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

noitaluspacne @ 54:

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Chuck @ 29:

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.

exactly. ban the electoral college all together.

sorry accidently quoted my comments as Kat's

i apologize, bit of a newb here.

Chuck @ 29:

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.

i agree. get rid of the electoral college all together.

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......................................

awh @ 67:

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.

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.

This Machine Kills Fascists @ 27:

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...

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...

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.
*

Vitam Vas @ 15:

Only refer to "Mr. Rove" by his proper name....."turdblossom"

V V

Or his skirt name.... "Miss Piggy"

"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.

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.

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.