This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on September 25, 2008.
Back to (Electoral) College
Every four years, we Americans go back to college - the Electoral College. The Electoral College is important because despite conventional wisdom, it is not presidential candidates that we will vote for in November but instead the members of this exclusive college.
Officially, the President is chosen not by the people but by the states, and each state has as many votes as it has members of Congress. All states get at least three electoral votes - one for each Senator and Representative. Vermont, then, only gets three. California, by contrast, has 55.
These elector counts are how commentators can tell you how many electoral votes a candidate needs to win the election. There are 100 Senators and 435 Representatives in Congress, for a total of 535 electoral votes. Add three more for Washington, D.C., for a total of 538. You need half plus one to win outright, or 270.
It is these electors you are selecting when you cast your ballot in November, not the exact candidate, though each political party chooses its electors. In most states, including Vermont, the slate of electors that garners the most votes will vote in the Electoral College. The electors from the other parties get to watch from home like the rest of us.
After the electors all vote, the votes are bundled up and mailed off to Congress, where they are eventually opened and tallied, and a winner is officially declared.
This year, Election Day falls on November 4. Elector Day, when the electors gather in their state capitals to cast their votes, is December 15. Finally, the Congress will count the votes on January 6.
Most of this process is pro forma after Election Day. Though electors are not technically bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to, they almost always do; and unless an elector goes against the grain, the reading of the votes in Congress is no surprise.
Why so convoluted a system? Why do we not just vote for the presidential candidate directly? The answer goes back to the great compromises the Framers made when they wrote the Constitution back in 1787.
The Electoral College does a few things. The biggest effect it has is to protect the smaller states, like Vermont, from the whims of the larger states. For one thing, large-state favorite sons can only get as many electoral votes as their state has; for another, because of equal suffrage in the Senate, smaller states have disproportionately large voting power in the College.
Another effect is our quadrennial reminder of the power of representative democracy. Just as we elect Senators and Representatives to weigh our demands with those of the nation, we elect electors to weigh our vote with the choices available. Even if the Electoral College always ends up voting as expected, there is always that slim possibility they could change their collective mind.
I have vacillated on the issue of the Electoral College over time, from supporter, to detractor, to compromiser.
As a resident of a small state, I am happy that my vote counts for more than a New York vote or a California vote. I am, however, uncomfortably happy, this being the equivalent of electoral schadenfreude.
The populist idea is a straight national popular vote. After the election debacle of 2000, I cringe, though, at any national plan. If there is dispute about the national vote, do we mandate Florida-style recounts in all 50 states? Would this grind the process to a halt?
Undoubtedly we could work something out, where recounts are by precinct or district or state, but still the prospect of needing a national recount is plausible. At least with the Electoral College as it is now, a recount in New York or New Hampshire does not necessitate a recount here.
A promising compromise is an interstate compact whereby, once enough states to total 270 or more electoral vote have signed on, those states would change their laws to select the slate of electors for the winner of the national vote, regardless of the state vote.
In any case, it is too late for change now, so the Electoral College process is going to go forward at least one more time. So, revel in our little electoral idiosyncrasy, and as homework, try to find out the names of the electors you'll be voting for when you cast your vote on Election Day.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Conventional Wisdom
This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on September 11, 2008.
Conventional Wisdom
Last week, the convention phase of the 2008 campaign season ended.
The Democratic Party could not have asked for a better convention. All of the heavy hitters got to have their time on stage, if not in the spotlight of prime time.
The Clintons buried the hatchet and hopefully Senator Hillary Clinton's call for her supporters to back Barack Obama will not go unheeded. In the coming weeks, it will be interesting to watch as Clinton campaigns for Obama throughout the country.
Joe Biden came out swinging, as everyone expected him to. He called the President to task for the policies of the last eight years, and wondered along with us what John McCain would do any different.
Wrapping up, the convention moved outside, and Barack Obama gave a speech to a packed house and a huge television audience. The TV cameras sought out the Obama supporters who were moved to tears by his speech, and it wasn't hard to find several in the crowd.
The outdoor venue was a risk. What if the campaign couldn't fill the stands? What if the television audience didn't tune in? What if the weather took a turn for the worst?
To this last point, Stuart Shepard, a cohort of James Dobson of Focus on the Family, exhorted his listeners to pray for rain. Though Shepard apologized for the comment, saying it was made in jest, the incident must have still made worries bubble up in organizers' minds.
The weather, though, cooperated, and so did the audience, both in Denver and at home. Nothing, it seemed, was going to lessen the impact of the convention at its close.
Nothing, that is, except for a couple of storms.
The first metaphorical storm was started by McCain himself, when he picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Never before do I recall seeing so much interest in a vice presidential pick.
Palin has excited the Republican base like no other pick could have, and has grabbed the attention of many who otherwise wouldn't have care one whit about the choice. Whether you were a political junkie, a GOP stalwart, or an apolitical Us Magazine reader, all minds were on Palin.
I have seen buttons in the Internet extolling "Palin Power" and quipping "Palin - Read My Lipstick". One, with only half-hearted tongue-in-cheekness, switches the ticket's names to "Palin/McCain".
Ironically, Palin is now blessed with the same kind of celebrity that McCain had criticized Obama for last month. Any comment, Paris Hilton?
Only a real storm seemed able to draw attention from Hurricane Sarah, and Mother Nature obliged with Hurricane Gustav. As the storm bore down on the Gulf states, the Republicans did the right thing and toned events down for the first day of their convention.
A former Democratic National Committee chair, Don Fowler, turned Shepard's words around on him, saying that Gustav "demonstrates God is on our side." Ill-timed and in extremely poor taste, Fowler issued his own apology for his comment while the Obama campaign likely was thinking "thanks for nothing."
But Gustav passed and Palin took to the stage on Wednesday, marking her real debut to the nation. After briefly going over her life story and establishing her conservative bona fides, she turned into an attack dog, issuing one-liners against Obama, the "angry left," and the "liberal media elite." After the convention closed, these zingers became staples of the McCain/Palin stump speeches, and the fact checkers revealed many of them to be outright lies.
Finally, Thursday was McCain's night to shine. As he described his time in a Vietnamese prison, I found myself unabashedly misty-eyed. His courage in the face of adversity makes me proud to have served under the same flag. Of course, the biography was followed by a speech that was big on applause points but short on any detail for his plans for the country.
No matter. In the end, the conventions got some of their highest ratings ever. Nearly 40 million viewers watched Obama, Palin, and McCain, with McCain drawing the highest numbers of all.
Take a deep breath. There are a few weeks before the next phase, the debates. With the race as tight as it is, they could play a key role. I await the one-on-one confrontations excitedly.
-----------------------
I would be remiss not to mention the anniversary we commemorate today. Never forget those who died on September 11, 2001, and never forget the troops who have sacrificed life and limb, and continue to do so, every day since.
Conventional Wisdom
Last week, the convention phase of the 2008 campaign season ended.
The Democratic Party could not have asked for a better convention. All of the heavy hitters got to have their time on stage, if not in the spotlight of prime time.
The Clintons buried the hatchet and hopefully Senator Hillary Clinton's call for her supporters to back Barack Obama will not go unheeded. In the coming weeks, it will be interesting to watch as Clinton campaigns for Obama throughout the country.
Joe Biden came out swinging, as everyone expected him to. He called the President to task for the policies of the last eight years, and wondered along with us what John McCain would do any different.
Wrapping up, the convention moved outside, and Barack Obama gave a speech to a packed house and a huge television audience. The TV cameras sought out the Obama supporters who were moved to tears by his speech, and it wasn't hard to find several in the crowd.
The outdoor venue was a risk. What if the campaign couldn't fill the stands? What if the television audience didn't tune in? What if the weather took a turn for the worst?
To this last point, Stuart Shepard, a cohort of James Dobson of Focus on the Family, exhorted his listeners to pray for rain. Though Shepard apologized for the comment, saying it was made in jest, the incident must have still made worries bubble up in organizers' minds.
The weather, though, cooperated, and so did the audience, both in Denver and at home. Nothing, it seemed, was going to lessen the impact of the convention at its close.
Nothing, that is, except for a couple of storms.
The first metaphorical storm was started by McCain himself, when he picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Never before do I recall seeing so much interest in a vice presidential pick.
Palin has excited the Republican base like no other pick could have, and has grabbed the attention of many who otherwise wouldn't have care one whit about the choice. Whether you were a political junkie, a GOP stalwart, or an apolitical Us Magazine reader, all minds were on Palin.
I have seen buttons in the Internet extolling "Palin Power" and quipping "Palin - Read My Lipstick". One, with only half-hearted tongue-in-cheekness, switches the ticket's names to "Palin/McCain".
Ironically, Palin is now blessed with the same kind of celebrity that McCain had criticized Obama for last month. Any comment, Paris Hilton?
Only a real storm seemed able to draw attention from Hurricane Sarah, and Mother Nature obliged with Hurricane Gustav. As the storm bore down on the Gulf states, the Republicans did the right thing and toned events down for the first day of their convention.
A former Democratic National Committee chair, Don Fowler, turned Shepard's words around on him, saying that Gustav "demonstrates God is on our side." Ill-timed and in extremely poor taste, Fowler issued his own apology for his comment while the Obama campaign likely was thinking "thanks for nothing."
But Gustav passed and Palin took to the stage on Wednesday, marking her real debut to the nation. After briefly going over her life story and establishing her conservative bona fides, she turned into an attack dog, issuing one-liners against Obama, the "angry left," and the "liberal media elite." After the convention closed, these zingers became staples of the McCain/Palin stump speeches, and the fact checkers revealed many of them to be outright lies.
Finally, Thursday was McCain's night to shine. As he described his time in a Vietnamese prison, I found myself unabashedly misty-eyed. His courage in the face of adversity makes me proud to have served under the same flag. Of course, the biography was followed by a speech that was big on applause points but short on any detail for his plans for the country.
No matter. In the end, the conventions got some of their highest ratings ever. Nearly 40 million viewers watched Obama, Palin, and McCain, with McCain drawing the highest numbers of all.
Take a deep breath. There are a few weeks before the next phase, the debates. With the race as tight as it is, they could play a key role. I await the one-on-one confrontations excitedly.
-----------------------
I would be remiss not to mention the anniversary we commemorate today. Never forget those who died on September 11, 2001, and never forget the troops who have sacrificed life and limb, and continue to do so, every day since.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Campaign Let-Downs
This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on August 28, 2008.
Campaign Let-Downs
I feel let down by Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
To be fair, though, I also feel let down by the Democrats on two points, so let me get those out of the way.
First, I signed up to be "one of the first" to know about Barack Obama's choice for a vice presidential candidate, the message to arrive on my cell phone before even the cable news networks were told.
I got the message, but at 3:29 a.m. last Saturday morning, and before I checked my inbox, I saw the morning news telling me about Joe Biden. So much for being one of the first.
Second, I was disappointed that the Democratic National Committee decided to let Florida and Michigan off the hook for their disobedient behavior during the primary season. Having held primaries earlier than the rules allowed, they were stripped of their convention delegates.
After negotiations between the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, the states were granted half their delegates, and now, this past weekend, the DNC decided to seat both states' full delegations. As any parent will agree, you have to follow through on your punishments or they mean nothing.
These let-downs, though, are minuscule compared to those of Candidate John McCain.
I had a lot of respect for McCain, but daily it's being chipped away at. I will always respect his times of service, both in the military and in the Senate, but his run for the presidency has rubbed the gloss off.
For example, McCain's stuttering confession that he was unsure about how many houses he owns certainly was not endearing: "I'll have my staff get back to you," he told reporters. To have so many that you lose count does not make me feel like he and I have the same concerns. The count, by the way, turns out to be eight.
I'll get back to McCain himself in a moment. His staff, however, deserves mention here. They seem to forget that the way things work is that the principal spokesperson for a presidential campaign is the candidate himself.
When McCain details some of his economic plans on the campaign trail, his budget policies end up nearly $3 trillion out of line with his published plans. McCain's chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, was questioned about the discrepancy by online magazine Slate. Wrote Slate blogger Christopher Beam, "'This is parsing words out of campaign appearances to an unreasonable degree,' Holtz-Eakin said. 'He has certainly I'm sure said things in town halls' that don't jibe perfectly with his written plan. But that doesn't mean it's official."
This has widely, and not inaccurately, been paraphrased as "John McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign."
And it happened again, a week later. In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, McCain said that in discussions about saving Social Security, "nothing is off the table," specifically including payroll tax increases.
The next day, one of McCain's spokesmen corrected the candidate, saying that a payroll tax increase was "absolutely out of the question." Again, McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign. Troubling.
Back to McCain himself: In a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McCain criticized Obama's positions on Iraq, saying that they called into question the judgement he would need as commander in chief: "Behind all of these ... positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president."
Maybe it is fair to criticize a presidential candidate for having ambition to be president, maybe not. But McCain should be careful of throwing stones. In 2002, McCain wrote a book about his 2000 run for the presidency, noting that he hadn't run for president to solve any particular problems. "I wanted to be president because," he wrote, "it had been my ambition to be president."
Look, we all misspeak. But in this day and age, when the lies told by "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" are perceived as truth, one must be especially careful about what one says. Failure to do so is, in itself, a black mark against you.
I leave you this week with a McCain gaffe that I found amusing but which may have made McCain's home life a bit awkward for a few days.
At the beginning of August, when McCain and his wife Cindy were attending a motorcycle rally in South Dakota, McCain told the crowd that he had encouraged Cindy to enter the "Miss Buffalo Chip" contest held at the rally.
Perhaps he did not know (or, worse, perhaps he did) that the contestants for the Miss Buffalo Chip contest dress scantily, if at all, and dance lewdly in front of the hooting audience. For John's sake, let's hope Cindy has a big sense of humor.
Campaign Let-Downs
I feel let down by Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
To be fair, though, I also feel let down by the Democrats on two points, so let me get those out of the way.
First, I signed up to be "one of the first" to know about Barack Obama's choice for a vice presidential candidate, the message to arrive on my cell phone before even the cable news networks were told.
I got the message, but at 3:29 a.m. last Saturday morning, and before I checked my inbox, I saw the morning news telling me about Joe Biden. So much for being one of the first.
Second, I was disappointed that the Democratic National Committee decided to let Florida and Michigan off the hook for their disobedient behavior during the primary season. Having held primaries earlier than the rules allowed, they were stripped of their convention delegates.
After negotiations between the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, the states were granted half their delegates, and now, this past weekend, the DNC decided to seat both states' full delegations. As any parent will agree, you have to follow through on your punishments or they mean nothing.
These let-downs, though, are minuscule compared to those of Candidate John McCain.
I had a lot of respect for McCain, but daily it's being chipped away at. I will always respect his times of service, both in the military and in the Senate, but his run for the presidency has rubbed the gloss off.
For example, McCain's stuttering confession that he was unsure about how many houses he owns certainly was not endearing: "I'll have my staff get back to you," he told reporters. To have so many that you lose count does not make me feel like he and I have the same concerns. The count, by the way, turns out to be eight.
I'll get back to McCain himself in a moment. His staff, however, deserves mention here. They seem to forget that the way things work is that the principal spokesperson for a presidential campaign is the candidate himself.
When McCain details some of his economic plans on the campaign trail, his budget policies end up nearly $3 trillion out of line with his published plans. McCain's chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, was questioned about the discrepancy by online magazine Slate. Wrote Slate blogger Christopher Beam, "'This is parsing words out of campaign appearances to an unreasonable degree,' Holtz-Eakin said. 'He has certainly I'm sure said things in town halls' that don't jibe perfectly with his written plan. But that doesn't mean it's official."
This has widely, and not inaccurately, been paraphrased as "John McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign."
And it happened again, a week later. In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, McCain said that in discussions about saving Social Security, "nothing is off the table," specifically including payroll tax increases.
The next day, one of McCain's spokesmen corrected the candidate, saying that a payroll tax increase was "absolutely out of the question." Again, McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign. Troubling.
Back to McCain himself: In a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McCain criticized Obama's positions on Iraq, saying that they called into question the judgement he would need as commander in chief: "Behind all of these ... positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president."
Maybe it is fair to criticize a presidential candidate for having ambition to be president, maybe not. But McCain should be careful of throwing stones. In 2002, McCain wrote a book about his 2000 run for the presidency, noting that he hadn't run for president to solve any particular problems. "I wanted to be president because," he wrote, "it had been my ambition to be president."
Look, we all misspeak. But in this day and age, when the lies told by "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" are perceived as truth, one must be especially careful about what one says. Failure to do so is, in itself, a black mark against you.
I leave you this week with a McCain gaffe that I found amusing but which may have made McCain's home life a bit awkward for a few days.
At the beginning of August, when McCain and his wife Cindy were attending a motorcycle rally in South Dakota, McCain told the crowd that he had encouraged Cindy to enter the "Miss Buffalo Chip" contest held at the rally.
Perhaps he did not know (or, worse, perhaps he did) that the contestants for the Miss Buffalo Chip contest dress scantily, if at all, and dance lewdly in front of the hooting audience. For John's sake, let's hope Cindy has a big sense of humor.
Friday, August 15, 2008
American Olympic stories from China
This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on August 14, 2008.
American Olympic stories from China
Given a topic as broad as China, it is tempting to go off on tangents far and wide.
In one direction, history: China's written history goes back further than any nation, back to the 15th century BCE. Its Ming and Qing dynasties top those of any English royal house - the Windsors have reigned only since 1910; the Ming ruled for 276 years, the Qing for 267.
In another direction, Sino-American relations: China is the second largest holder of American debt, after Japan (a debt to which, over the last five years, we added nearly $3 trillion). We import more goods from China than any other nation, and we have a massive trade deficit with China (a trade deficit that we share with Japan and the European Union).
But Olympic events in China in the past week permit me to put history and politics aside, and focus on a topic that I don't often feel the urge to write about -- sports.
Like many Americans, I only care about judo, fencing, shooting, kayaking, or water polo when there are Olympic gold medals at stake. And with the Games come the stories, compelling Olympic stories.
I wasn't even going to bother watching the opening ceremonies nor the mind-numbing parade of nations until I read about the athlete chosen by the U.S. delegation to be our flag-bearer. The story of Tully, New York, middle-distance runner Lopez Lomong is well-known by now, but worth repeating.
Lomong was living in Sudan when he was abducted from his family at the age of six, taken to become a child soldier in the Sudanese civil war. He and some other boys were able to escape to Kenya and for a decade, Lomong languished in refugee camps. He was finally chosen to be resettled in the United States, one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan.
Lomong assumed his family had been killed during the civil war, and following his abduction, his family assumed he was dead and buried him in absentia. Though he was later reunited with his Sudanese family, Lomong decided to stay in the United States with his adoptive family, and became a citizen just last year.
Lomong's story inspired his fellow athletes just as it inspires many of us, and their choice of Lomong to lead them into the Bird's Nest Stadium was seen as both a dig at the Chinese, for their role in the turmoil in Sudan's Darfur region, and a recognition of the obstacles he had to overcome to reach the games.
Here is a sampling of the other stories to emerge from Beijing from just the first five days of competition.
American women swept the medals in the sabre competition, the first time Americans have swept a fencing competition since 1904. President George Bush was on hand to watch as three American flags rose over the medal podium on day one.
A quartet of American men came from behind to defeat the favored French team in the 4x100m free relay swim, a win that got Michael Phelps another gold medal in his quest to be the first to win eight in a single Olympic games.
In the women's version of the same event, 4x100m free relay, 41-year-old Dara Torres won her 10th Olympic medal, in her fifth Olympics, when she helped the American woman to a silver medal.
In oft-overlooked men's gymnastics, our team overcame the loss of Paul and Morgan Hamm to injury and pulled ahead to finish with a bronze medal, with Alexander Artemev's performance on pommel horse sealing the deal.
In baseball, a sport that Williston Little League champions should watch carefully since this will be its last appearance at the Olympics for a while, the U.S. team is one of only eight; if history is a guide, the Cubans have a better chance at gold than the U.S., but in exhibition play, the U.S. won a respectable 5 out of 6. After failing to reach the medal round in Athens in 2004, the Americans have something to prove.
Whether you're a sports fan or not, tune in to see what your athletes, and those of the rest of the world, have to offer in the coming week. No doubt you won't be disappointed.
American Olympic stories from China
Given a topic as broad as China, it is tempting to go off on tangents far and wide.
In one direction, history: China's written history goes back further than any nation, back to the 15th century BCE. Its Ming and Qing dynasties top those of any English royal house - the Windsors have reigned only since 1910; the Ming ruled for 276 years, the Qing for 267.
In another direction, Sino-American relations: China is the second largest holder of American debt, after Japan (a debt to which, over the last five years, we added nearly $3 trillion). We import more goods from China than any other nation, and we have a massive trade deficit with China (a trade deficit that we share with Japan and the European Union).
But Olympic events in China in the past week permit me to put history and politics aside, and focus on a topic that I don't often feel the urge to write about -- sports.
Like many Americans, I only care about judo, fencing, shooting, kayaking, or water polo when there are Olympic gold medals at stake. And with the Games come the stories, compelling Olympic stories.
I wasn't even going to bother watching the opening ceremonies nor the mind-numbing parade of nations until I read about the athlete chosen by the U.S. delegation to be our flag-bearer. The story of Tully, New York, middle-distance runner Lopez Lomong is well-known by now, but worth repeating.
Lomong was living in Sudan when he was abducted from his family at the age of six, taken to become a child soldier in the Sudanese civil war. He and some other boys were able to escape to Kenya and for a decade, Lomong languished in refugee camps. He was finally chosen to be resettled in the United States, one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan.
Lomong assumed his family had been killed during the civil war, and following his abduction, his family assumed he was dead and buried him in absentia. Though he was later reunited with his Sudanese family, Lomong decided to stay in the United States with his adoptive family, and became a citizen just last year.
Lomong's story inspired his fellow athletes just as it inspires many of us, and their choice of Lomong to lead them into the Bird's Nest Stadium was seen as both a dig at the Chinese, for their role in the turmoil in Sudan's Darfur region, and a recognition of the obstacles he had to overcome to reach the games.
Here is a sampling of the other stories to emerge from Beijing from just the first five days of competition.
American women swept the medals in the sabre competition, the first time Americans have swept a fencing competition since 1904. President George Bush was on hand to watch as three American flags rose over the medal podium on day one.
A quartet of American men came from behind to defeat the favored French team in the 4x100m free relay swim, a win that got Michael Phelps another gold medal in his quest to be the first to win eight in a single Olympic games.
In the women's version of the same event, 4x100m free relay, 41-year-old Dara Torres won her 10th Olympic medal, in her fifth Olympics, when she helped the American woman to a silver medal.
In oft-overlooked men's gymnastics, our team overcame the loss of Paul and Morgan Hamm to injury and pulled ahead to finish with a bronze medal, with Alexander Artemev's performance on pommel horse sealing the deal.
In baseball, a sport that Williston Little League champions should watch carefully since this will be its last appearance at the Olympics for a while, the U.S. team is one of only eight; if history is a guide, the Cubans have a better chance at gold than the U.S., but in exhibition play, the U.S. won a respectable 5 out of 6. After failing to reach the medal round in Athens in 2004, the Americans have something to prove.
Whether you're a sports fan or not, tune in to see what your athletes, and those of the rest of the world, have to offer in the coming week. No doubt you won't be disappointed.
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