The Electoral College

[fclbrokle]

Prompted by my GOTV efforts in this election, I've started to think about the Electoral College and the role it plays in our elections. As we all know, it's possible for someone to become president while losing the popular vote, and this is certainly a bug, not a feature. However, I've been thinking about other consequences of the system, and not

Comments

[fclbrokle]

Just a quick response because I don't have time right now: the reason you were campaigning at all those places in New Hampshire is because it was the only state in your region on the table. They had too much manpower to focus it all in Manchester --- it wouldn't have been efficient. (Indeed, they shifted Champaign volunteers away from Indianapolis because the city had too many people.) If there had been a national popular vote, you would have stayed in Massachusetts and almost certainly Boston, because you would have been much more efficient (and they would have had more volunteers) getting out the vote in Boston.

Obama was only able to campaign so broadly in the primaries because they were so spread out. He'd never have had enough money nor manpower to campaign in 50 states at once, in both urban and rural areas.

Now, there is an argument to be made (which I only just thought of) that perhaps this would be good because it dilutes the politicians' message such that we're forced to get more news from the media and not directly from the politicians themselves, who will skew it more. But that's a different matter and I'm not sure.