McCain Might Give Up On Colorado...

[chipmunk stew]

I really have some problems with this idea of "Amending the Constitution By The Backdoor".

NOT.

You need 2/3 of all states to ratify a Constitutional Amendment.

The post doesn't describe amending the Constitution. It describes a way that the states, using the law as currently written, could apportion their electoral votes such that the popular vote would always win. They'd have to coordinate their own state laws, though, in order for it to work.

It'll never happen, though. Imagine the outrage:

• the popular vote of a state goes one way
• the popular vote of the country goes the other
• the state gives its electoral votes to the latter
• putting the latter over the top for the win

 

[pgwenthold]

NOT.

You need 2/3 of all states to ratify a Constitutional Amendment.

You should read what I wrote.

It has nothing to do with a constitutional amendment.

 

[pgwenthold]

I really have some problems with this idea of "Amending the Constitution By The Backdoor".

The constitution says NOTHING about how state electoral votes are to be apportioned.

How is it any more subversive than "all the state's electors vote for the same candidate"? Is that really what the framers had in mind when they created the electoral college, where people chose electors, and electors vote for the president?

 

[pgwenthold]

The post doesn't describe amending the Constitution. It describes a way that the states, using the law as currently written, could apportion their electoral votes such that the popular vote would always win. They'd have to coordinate their own state laws, though, in order for it to work.

It'll never happen, though. Imagine the outrage:

• the popular vote of a state goes one way
• the popular vote of the country goes the other
• the state gives its electoral votes to the latter
• putting the latter over the top for the win

And the winner of the election is the one who won the nationwide popular vote.

Not as much outrage as you might think.

 

[chipmunk stew]

And the winner of the election is the one who won the nationwide popular vote.

Not as much outrage as you might think.

Just in the state that "flipped". I think that's enough to scare off most states from participating.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

People, Obama only has to win Virginia and Colorado, and retain all the Kerry states. That's it. He is doing incredibly well in both.

It is surely over.

 

[XBoxWarrior]

I live in religulous Colorado...I can't see them jumping here.

Palin was in the Springs yesterday, and it's still kinda close. (+4% Obama)

If he jumps outta here, he should just suspend his campaign until 11-5-08.

He has zero chance of pulling an '00/'04 blue state.

 

[dudalb]

I live in religulous Colorado...I can't see them jumping here.

Palin was in the Springs yesterday, and it's still kinda close. (+4% Obama)

If he jumps outta here, he should just suspend his campaign until 11-5-08.

He has zero chance of pulling an '00/'04 blue state.

Uh, not all religous believers vote GOP.
Remember Jimmy Carter?
You have a right to your own opinion of religon, but if you were working for Obama and I was a campaign official and heard you make a remark like that, you would be off the campaign so quick it would make your head spin.

 

[gdnp]

People, Obama only has to win Virginia and Colorado, and retain all the Kerry states. That's it. He is doing incredibly well in both.

It is surely over.

Not till the ballots are cast and the votes are counted.

 

[BenBurch]

Not till the ballots are cast and the votes are counted.

And recounted.

And litigated.

And appealed.

 

[Peephole]

McCain is cutting and running from more states:

McCain Scaling Back in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Colorado?

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: Democratic sources say the McCain camp may be giving up on New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

Instead of placing new television advertising buys in those states, they say the McCain campaign is stretching out previous ad buys over more days rather than devote new ad money.

No denial from the McCain camp. One source said simply, "We are on the air in those states."

...

UPDATE: Ad buyers in the battleground state of Colorado are seeing the same dynamic ... no new McCain ad buys and stretching out the old ones. Obama leads McCain 51 - 47 in the latest CNN/Time poll of Colorado voters.

 

[Peephole]

More pull-outs:

McCain’s Camp Shaves Its Ad Targets

Democrats who monitor advertising spending now put at five the number of states where Senator John McCain is reducing his advertising – New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, Maine and Minnesota.

In essence, Mr. McCain’s campaign has decided to spread the advertising time he bought for the upcoming week in those states over the next two final weeks.

While station managers in the affected states said they were not ruling out the possibility that Mr. McCain would pump money back in before election day, on Nov. 4, the move represents a stark reordering of priorities.

Democrats were predicting Mr. McCain would use the savings to increase his advertising in Pennsylvania and, possibly, Ohio and Florida, all of which have become that much more vital should Mr. McCain have to concede states like Colorado and Wisconsin.

By our very rough reckoning, based on what he spent in those states last week according to advertising monitoring firm CMAG, the move should free up an additional $2 million that Mr. McCain can now spend in Pennsylvania, or wherever else.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/mccains-camp-shaves-its-ad-targets/

Also:

But the McCain campaign also needs the extra money to keep up with its current plans, due to a quiet decision it has made that most voters will hardly notice.

Until now, the campaign has been teaming up with the Republican National Committee to jointly produce a large percentage of its advertisements. By sharing the costs down the middle, Team McCain has been able to basically double the amount of advertisements it can run for its money.

This is all legal: campaigns are allowed to split the costs of their ads with their affiliated parties. But there’s a catch: The spots must serve not only their campaigns but also the collective agendas of their congressional colleagues.

Such advertisements – known in the political business as “hybrids” – tend to garble a presidential candidate’s message. So, for instance, a spot attacking Mr. Obama also has included references to “liberals in Congress’’ and figures like Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, who is not as well known to everyday voters.

The campaign has started to phase out those ads in these final days, deciding to stick to advertisements it can devote fully to Mr. McCain’s campaign message. That will greatly disadvantage Mr. McCain as he struggles to keep up with the far better funded Mr. Obama. But Mr. McCain’s aides have clearly decided a trade of volume for greater clarity is worth it.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/mccains-camp-shaves-its-ad-targets/

In other words, the RNC has given up on McCain and is shifting its resources to down-ticket races.

 

[MattusMaximus]

In other words, the RNC has given up on McCain and is shifting its resources to down-ticket races.

Yup, it certainly does read that way. My guess is the RNC's main focus now is to do everything they can to prevent the Democrats from winning 60 seats in the Senate.

 

[BenBurch]

Yup, it certainly does read that way. My guess is the RNC's main focus now is to do everything they can to prevent the Democrats from winning 60 seats in the Senate.

And Obama is shifting funds to places where those Senate seats could come from, or so I was told today.

Also a major move is on out of WI and IA by Obama ground forces, which are massing in Chicago for an all out assault on the hold-out state of Indiana.

 

[gdnp]

And recounted.

And litigated.

And appealed.

This will only happen if the vote is close enough for the disputed votes to make a difference. I am hoping that will not be the case, and if the Dems keep running to the finish line it should not be.

 

[BenBurch]

This will only happen if the vote is close enough for the disputed votes to make a difference. I am hoping that will not be the case, and if the Dems keep running to the finish line it should not be.

But this time we'll go to the mat on the legal front if we are forced to.

 

[gdnp]

That will greatly disadvantage Mr. McCain as he struggles to keep up with the far better funded Mr. Obama.

Maybe he will just opt out of federal funding, like he did in the primaries.

 

[gdnp]

But this time we'll go to the mat on the legal front if we are forced to.

You think the Federal judges appointed by Bush over the past 8 years will be sympathetic? Or the Roberts court with Alito will be any more favorable to the Democrats than the Renquist court with O'Connor?

 

[pgwenthold]

And Obama is shifting funds to places where those Senate seats could come from, or so I was told today.

Also a major move is on out of WI and IA by Obama ground forces, which are massing in Chicago for an all out assault on the hold-out state of Indiana.

I need to vote soon so I can tell the assaulters I've already voted so leave me alone...