RAT electoral college and other prickly thoughts

[Thsimple@aol.com]

Hey Paul and other RAT amigos- 

from fec.gov/pages/ecworks.htm

Each State is allocated a number of Electors equal to the number of its U.S. 
Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives (which may 
change each decade according to the size of each State's population as 
determined in the Census). 
*   The political parties (or independent candidates) in each State submit to 
the State's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their 
candidate for president and equal in number to the State's electoral vote. 
Usually, the major political parties select these individuals either in their 
State party conventions or through appointment by their State party leaders 
while third parties and independent candidates merely designate theirs. 
*   After their caucuses and primaries, the major parties nominate their 
candidates for president and vice president in their national conventions 
traditionally held in the summer preceding the election. (Third parties and 
independent candidates follow different procedures according to the 
individual State laws). The names of the duly nominated candidates are then 
officially submitted to each State's chief election official so that they 
might appear on the general election ballot. 

*   On the Tuesday following the first Monday of November in years divisible 
by four, the people in each State cast their ballots for the party slate of 
Electors representing their choice for president and vice president (although 
as a matter of practice, general election ballots normally say "Electors for" 
each set of candidates rather than list the individual Electors on each 
slate). 
*   Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in the State becomes 
that State's Electors-so that, in effect, whichever presidential ticket gets 
the most popular votes in a State wins all the Electors of that State. [The 
two exceptions to this are Maine and Nebraska where two Electors are chosen 
by statewide popular vote and the remainder by the popular vote within each 
Congressional district]. 
*The candidate for president with the most electoral votes, provided that it 
is an absolute majority (one over half of the total), is declared president. 
Similarly, the vice presidential candidate with the absolute majority of 
electoral votes is declared vice president. 

Basically -as an example -  for any state, a simple majority in 
California(electoral votes equaling 2+# of representatives - 54 in 2000) 
beats a landslide in Iowa(2+# of representatives -7), due to the numbers of 
electoral votes available. Winner take all in the state game, subsumed 
directly into the national maw.

I cannot foresee, with the way politics is paid and played nowadays, that any 
independent candidate is going to carry any majority of states - much less 
those needed to beat either of the entrenched parties to carry the day. 
People  are lazy - IF they bother to vote, they may vote for what is 
familiar(Democrat) or go by the Throw the Incumbent Out(Republican). Or 
pro-choice vs. what-we-choose-for -you. Or Save the World against Us against 
the World.
Whirled Peas vs Pease Porridge in Every Pot.  I can totally see how living 
under a Republican President MIGHT bring higher conciousness - but as I see 
it in America, a concience and conciousness are different things - often 
eased with $$$$. Politics is a tricky, personal thing. Not unlike religion, 
and artistic visions. I see problems and solutions in both parties - I don't 
see, even in St. Nader, a solution ot all ills, problems and gripes. That, as 
someone more eloquently than I pointed out, will need to come from the 
streets, not any centralized, homogenized party. from the community. Like 
beer and theater - Think in the big, outsize space - drink/create the realty 
in the everyday neighborhood. (Not pithy, I know, but it's late, and I'm 
going to be up awhile

the other thing that interests me, tangentially, is for a country that is 
technically based on the ideals of church vs state, how hardily folks 
personal faith(or lack thereof) is paraded for all to see. Someone else want 
to take that on??? And what about those Vice president fellows? Tipper vs 
Madame Cheney?

Llysa