Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Be careful what you ask for

 State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware)just won't give up. After his plan to award Pennsylvania's electoral votes by Congressional District went no where he is back with a plan to divvy them up proportionally. If this system was in place last year President Obama would have received 12 EV's to Govenor Romney's 8 instead of all 20 going to the Democrats.

It's easy to see how this plan could backfire. Although PA has voted for the Dems in the last few elections it's not inconceivable that the GOP nominee could win the Commonwealth in 2016 but split the EV's with the Democrat and deny him/her the White House. The other danger is that the 2014 State Legislature races could be nationalized. If this bill passes I can see every Democratic interest group in the country getting involved pouring lot's of money into those races.

3 comments:

Pope George Ringo said...

I may be wrong, but I believe for these electoral rigging proposals to become law they need the Governor's signature. Corbett is the most unpopular Gov in the nation and several GOP Governors who are nearly as unpopular in the blue states have turned their back on these efforts for fear of their own re-election prospects.
Problem is....can the legislation be passed less than two years before the Presidential election? I do not know.
Walker of Wisconsin, Scott of Florida have already dismissed this rigging effort...Corbett is leaning against it. Question is, if these clowns are re-elected (and do not count Corbett out as the general election is still nearly two years off)will they do an about face?? ANswer: YES. Politicians serve interests, NOT People....particularly their own interests.
Bless You,
And a Happy Hearty retirement to Pope Benedict!!!!

Anonymous said...

If it passes, the Democrats will lock 2014. Period. I can understand why Pileggi is concerned about his party in future elections - I'm sure he can hear the landslide coming (and its name is Hillary). The fact is that no one wants to vote for his party. So instead of trying to keep the gop relevant, he wants to rig the game so that his party wins whether or not the people vote for them. Usually I'm not one for calling one party "less American" than the other, because I remember the Bush years and how horrible they were... but Pilleggi's electoral college scheme is about as un-American as you can get.

It won't pass, because of the reasons listed in this article.

Forrest Gump said...

I hope you're right Anon 7:12a.m.

I've seen these attempts more frequently in the last several years. Republicans see the writing on wall and realize that without capitualting to some groups who normally vote Democratic in national elections, this is there only hope. Rig the electoral voting in their favor. Along with jerrymandering which should be illegal, Republicans may be competitive nationally.

Otherwise, with the changing demographics of our future electorate; Republicans, especially the far-right Christians and of course their cousins the Tea Party, have no hope of being competitive, let alone a chance to win these elections.