MyDD :: GOP Abandons CA Electoral "Dirty Trick" Initiative

GOP Abandons CA Electoral "Dirty Trick" Initiative

by lordmikethegreat, Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 01:06:29 AM EST

Great news! - Todd

According to the L.A.Times

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.

They also are running out of time... needed to have signatures in by November for the June ballot. Democratic leaders will keep an eye out to make sure that this dirty trick doesn't rear its ugly head again... the one concern, IMO, would be for them to try again and have it be on next year's *November* ballot and somehow be retroactive...

Tags: GOP, California, Electoral College (all tags)

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GOP Abandons CA Electoral ... (none / 0)

Hooray!! May they slither back under the rock they crawled out from under.

John McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion

by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 01:12:53 AM EST

GOP Spin Job? (none / 0)

Todd, in terms of keeping our guards up, I suspect that there'll need to be effort put onto keeping fresh in the electorate's mind what it is the Republicans were (or perhaps still are) trying to do here.

You already see in the LA Times entry that they're getting the facts wrong in a way that incorrectly puts this Republican effort in a much more benign way:

Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are currently held by Republicans, giving them a fair chance of winning those electoral votes in a presidential election.

Low Attention Voter: Oh, I see now, all these Republicans were doing was trying to ensure they had a fair chance of winning in those districts - what's wrong with that? That's not trying to steal anything, you dirty blogger!

If I were the Republicans, I really wouldn't want to be held accountable for trying to literally steal the election by automatically sewing up around 20 EV's. So, faced with that, what to do? How about I do a tactical retreat on the initiative and then spend my efforts trying to convince folks that what I was after was just to make elections "fairer" -- and then gear up again to push the initiative once that notion takes hold.

I am keeping in mind that this is just a blog entry and not the actual article that's coming out in the LAT. However, I think it shows how easily it would be for Republicans to squirm out from being held to account for trying to guarantee before the election even happens almost half of CA's electoral vote.

These guys may through all sorts of crap at reporters in the hopes that some of it gets uncritically repeated in the press. Beating that back may take a coordinated effort.

John McCain: Fund Iraq? No problem! Kids Health Insurance? Screw 'em.

by PeterB on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:33:58 AM EST

Re:CA Electoral "Dirty Trick" Initia (2.00 / 2)

I think the Dems should keep talking long and loud about it, so that their point of view can get out there while the opposition is regrouping. Now that there aren't any competing messages, use the time to convince the general populous that this was a vote stealing scam and maybe the next time it comes up it will have less support.

by Kingstongirl on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 10:10:30 AM EST

"Risky Scheme" (2.00 / 1)

You're right. What might push this along would be to give it a shortcut nickname that, whenever you say the name (and say it often), it brings up the whole episode in one negative ball.

I'm not explaining this well, so here's my example. In 1996, Bill Clinton, running for re-election, hammered incessantly on Bob Dole's "risky scheme". Today, I remember "risky scheme", but I had to look up what the heck the risky scheme actually was (answer: 15% across-the-board tax cut).

The perfect phrase would also function as a 'dog-whistle', reminding certain voters about other nefarious GOP plots. For example, a candidate bragging about stopping the Republican Vote-Stealing Scheme (I'm no wordsmith, but you get the idea) not only reinforces the negative about the electoral dirty trick to voters in general, but it may also remind minority voters in particular of the enmity the Republicans have had for them for generations, and help keep them in the Democratic fold.

by LegacyLDad on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 03:59:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It wouldn't work anyway (none / 0)

The Constitution gives the power of determining the method of selecting presidential electors to the state legislatures alone. Even if they could pass it by popular vote, it would be laughed out of federal court in a minute. I'm guessing that's the real reason they dropped this.

In a mountain half-way between Reno and Rome We have a machine in a plexiglass dome Which listens and looks into everyone's home. -- Theodore Seuss Geisel

by joelspolls on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 12:57:52 PM EST

Re: GOP Abandons (2.00 / 1)

I'll be honest, this worried me. I agreed there would be a low turn-out for the vote and anyone just looking at it might think it was a fair thing to do, not realizing what it actually meant or what it would do. So I'm glad this has happened- it could have been defeated but we would have had to spend a hell of a lot of money to make sure people knew what it meant.

by reasonwarrior on Fri Sep 28, 2007 at 04:43:55 PM EST

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