Rassmussen Electoral College Tally: McCain-189 Obama-193
Let’s have an “Electoral College Discussion”…
If you include what they call “leaners” its McCain-247, Obama-259.There are 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidency. I personally have never truly, truly, deeply, deeply, scrutinized, taken apart, pared down, dissected, examined, analyzed, studied, evaluated, appraised, or put too much thought into how the hell somebody came up with the Electoral College idea, or how it works.
Maybe one of you, Oh Dollard Readers, may be able to explain to me, and many like myself who, can’t quite figure out why we don’t all just toss our votes into a hat and count them.
You know, I think they call that “Popular Vote”…
Why did they think that the Electoral College system was better and more representative of the people than the Popular Vote?
Anyway, still looks too close to call at this point, and at the rate of fluctuation in the polls, who knows what’ll happen on Election Day. I mean, even 55 days out could be peaking too soon.
One thing’s for sure, as long as McCain sticks Sarah Palin out there and stands next to her while she speaks, then gives his speech, we’ll probably be alright because it’ll keep the Obama camp on “Befuddled Defensive” mode.
And it’ll draw the crowds out to the speeches, the debates, and then…the polls.
Obama just doesn’t know how to deal with this thing.
One guy said the Sarah Palin pick was a gamble of John McCain’s along the lines of downing a couple of double shots and then flying his jet fighter under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Risky, but if pulled off, most spectacular and competitive.
Rassmussen has a whole write-up on it.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
As I understand it, it is quite simple. Each state is assigned electoral votes based on their population from the last census.
In the General Election, the candidate that wins each state wins the total number of electoral votes assigned to that state. That is based on the popular vote of that state.
The candidate that get 270 (the majority of electory votes) is the winner of the election.
It is going to be a land slide for McCain/Palin!
September 10th, 2008 at 3:03 pmI don’t think it’ll be a landslide. Plain and simple, too many people drank the Obama Punch. However McCain will most likely win by a few votes, which will have the liberals pissed off and crying for a recount.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pmAs for as I know the E. C. is designed to avoid mob rule which is what a true democracy is, we’re a representative republic.
The E.C. allows both the individual voter and the state they live in to have a say so.
It’s an attempt by our Founding Fathers to avoid a true civil war.
We had a war between the states and I know there’s regular readers here that are far more knowledgeable on these subjects than I.
Just my two cents worth.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pmEach state gets Electors based on their population and 2 more per state just like Senators. It equalizes the relative power of the States and prevents the candidates from concentrating their emphasis on only the big states and the urban areas. It’s a lot like the reason we have the structure we do in the Senate. The original intent was also meant to allow a group of people representing the masses, who can make studied decisions. In the early life of this Nation, the average voter had less access to press and research resources.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pmWith population heavy on the coasts and that population infested with liberal/marxists, a national election would end up Gore and Kerry as victors in the last two elections. The electoral college allows those in flyover country to have a voice in the election.
Use an example, the state of Michigan, that socialist Gov. granholm has won the last 2 elections because of the heavy concentration of demonrat voters in the metro areas of Detroit and Flint. If an electoral system was used in the state and was based on county by county votes it is likely that she would have lost and Michigan would not be the economic sh*t hole it has become. But the state election is based on popular vote and the urban liberal population centers controlled the state election. Basically 5 or 6 counties controlled the whole state.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:40 pmIf the US went to a popular vote, candidates would only campaign in the most populous areas: big cities, metropolitan areas, which would mainly incorporate the east and west coast states today. Much of the rest of the country would be ignored. The founding fathers wanted to ensure that the entire country was represented during a presidential election and candidates realized the needs of the entire country, and made their case to the entire country, and not just court the city dwellers. Its really quite brilliant and shows a lot of forethought on the part of those white wigged, beer drinking revolutionaries.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:41 pmAlong with the above…
The EC was also created to simplify the popular vote counting.
The votes per Congressional/Senatorial district can be counted much faster than the nation as a whole.
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:42 pmLiberty is a well armed lamb able to contest the decision.
–Benjamin Franklin
Bash, the way to understand the EC system is like football:
BIG population states = touchdowns
SMALL population states = field goals
Total Votes = total yardage
Logically, a yardage advantage usually means a win, BUT NOT NECESSARILY. Same in elections: Gore had more votes/yards than Bush, but Bush put together enough field goals and TDs to get more POINTS.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pmSO HE WON FAIR AND SQUARE, BY THE RULES. THE END.
Let’s wait until Sarah catches her breath in Alaska this week’s end, gets that first network interview under her belt, finishes her briefing books on defense, foreign affairs, economy (though she knows plenty about that now) and other cramming she’s been doing between speeches and nursing. Because she’s a two-year governor of a border and coastal and bordering a hostile nation state, she’s been getting Homeland Security and other like briefings for some time now. I’m so looking forward to seeing her knock some more stuffing out of the heming and hawing guy and his gaffe-machine sidekick, a pair of dissemblers if ever there were.
Give this GOP team a little more time and confidence. They haven’t peaked yet.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:59 pmWell, Bash, frankly, I’m a little surprised. Just ask ANYone who lives in Western Canada how they like the all-in-one-hat system. That means that Eastern Canada elects the Prime Minister every time, because most Canadians live in Eastern Canada.
We do not live in a democracy. We live in a Constitutional Republic where less populated states cannot be regularly rolled by more populated states. That’s why we have two houses of Congress, one based on state population, and one where each state gets an equal vote. And that one, the Senate, is the Upper House. For better, and for worse — I think it turned out way better — everybody gets a truly equal shot.
Or, do we really want the major cities, and states deciding what’s going to happen in WY, AK, ID, etc? Not me. I don’t. All we’d get would be Democrats, and pro-city legislation.I’m sure that by now others have made far better points than I have in favor of the college. We are still a Union of individual states, NOT just one big mess, and I’d like to keep it that way.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pmPure Democracies (*ie, Popular votes) are dangerous to the rights of Individuals which can simply fall to Mob Rule. Our founding Fathers have learned from the lessons of Rome and the Greeks. Jesus and Socrates were put to death via Popular votes. A populist candidate can be elected because that Candidate had control of the Media and resources to communicate with the Populations. Which is why the Gladiator sports and conquering lands became popular with Chasers. It made them immensely popular and a cult of Personality. Germany also had a pure Democratic vote just before WWII.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:01 pmThe EC annoys me in the sense that, if you don’t vote with the majority in your state, you may as well have stayed home. However, see Steve in NC’s comments; he nailed it.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pmUmm… isn’t NOT staying at home the way you GET a majority?
September 10th, 2008 at 4:49 pmGo to this web site and you can play “Karl Rove.”
http://www.270towin.com
It actually makes me nervous.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:30 pm…Steve In DC…
Illinois is the same. You have Cook County and then the rest of Illinois.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:33 pmAnd don’t forget about those Dem voter registration drives.
Dhimmis…. they see dead people.
September 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pmVery interesting responses guys.
I’m not one of those bloggers or “pundits” who reads up on wikipedia and a few Google searches that day and then prtends to be an expert at something.
Bash? Politics?
Pffft.
But, observing politicians, their words, their body language, the message they project overall…basically reading people…maybe using a little God-given gift (we all have at least ONE God-given gift, find yours and use it, its part of your purpose–see my WTF u doing here post)…of intuition…I can sometimes smell rats and fakes and bulshitters and true blue people.
This electoral college thing to me…sounds cool. Never really took the time to study it out, but I do know I ask about it every four years and it always ends up making sense to me…
The Representative Republic, yes, better than flat out mob rule, when you really think about it, I guess.
Aw hell, I don’t care, I know who I’m voting for and rooting for and by cracky they’re gonna win!
September 10th, 2008 at 6:58 pmThe stuff on the websites saying Obama is ahead is assuming he is already winning some states and it’s purely bullsh!t. It will be decided on election day.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:16 pmMan, nobody listens around here. Alright, NOW HEAR THIS! The following website is required reading. I have posted it here before, but I guess no one saw it. It’s from the Federal Election Commission, so it’s all legit. It’s the same stuff I learned in 8th grade Civics class, as should all have you. Thank you.
http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf
September 10th, 2008 at 7:48 pmWTF?
September 11th, 2008 at 3:05 amfact is, thats why alot of people dont vote, because we have a representative democracy, and not a direct democracy.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:22 amIt helps to suppress fraud. You need a lot of fraudulent votes to equal a electoral vote. We know how the democrats love fraud.
September 11th, 2008 at 3:35 amThe Dhimmis lost Florida in 2000 and the election by ~500 *popular* votes.
How many times do you think that is being drilled into the brains of Obamanauts?
Pricks are going door to door like Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Sending out emails to supporters asking them to provide a place to stay for their ‘organizers’ in battleground states.
(Got one myself)
ACORN registering homeless, offering rides to the polls, etc., etc.
Ignore them at our peril.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:02 amBecause the popular vote would allow California and New York to decide every single election.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:11 am