The Electoral College Vs. The Popular Vote.

by John Hawkins | December 15, 2008 1:18 pm

Over at the Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Soros[1], George Soros’ son, made the following argument — such as it is — for supporting the popular vote over the electoral college,

In his election-night victory speech, Barack Obama said he would be a president for all Americans, not just those who voted for him. But as a candidate he didn’t campaign with equal vigor for every vote. Instead, he and John McCain devoted more than 98% of their television ad spending and campaign events to just 15 states which together make up about a third of the U.S. population. Today, as the Electoral College votes are cast and counted state-by-state, we will be reminded why. It is the peculiar mechanics of that institution, designed for a different age, that leave us divided into red states, blue states and swing states. That needs to change.

Ever since Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college, the Left has had a bee in their bonnet about changing this system. However, their stated reasoning often doesn’t make sense.

For example, Soros points out that the two candidates in the last election spent 98% of their time in just 15 states. That’s probably true. But, if the election were based on the popular vote instead of the electoral college, the candidates still wouldn’t have the time and resources to blanket every state. In fact, because they’d have to focus so much on the biggest, most populous states, they’d probably end up campaigning in FEWER states. After all, getting your message out in states like New York, California, and Texas is a heck of a lot more expensive and time consuming than doing it in New Hampshire, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Additionally, since Al Gore irresponsibly attempted to lawyer his way into the White House back in 2000, every election now features ugly legal battles where the Democratic candidate — yes, it’s pretty much always the Democratic candidate — shamelessly tries to steal an election in the courts that he lost at the ballot box. Imagine the legal nightmare that would ensue if the Republican won by, say a million votes and the Democrats could then launch lawsuits in EVERY STATE to try to find more ballots. It would be an absolute disaster — well, for the country — but, it might enable the Soros clan to help steal an election in the courts and I suspect that’s the reason they’re really interested in pursuing this.

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