Truth and fiction of Electoral College
The Electoral College would be more useful and less dangerous if it became an honorary member of the Big Ten Conference.
Actually, the Electoral College would fit right in.
The Big Ten consists of 14 universities. The Electoral College has enabled five men who lost the national popular vote to become president. Is it any wonder American students lag in math?
Donald Trump was the most recent presidential candidate to travel the back-door route to the White House.
Hillary Clinton bested Trump by more than 2.8 million popular votes in 2016. But Trump won the presidency based on units of votes from each state in the archaic, arcane, insane Electoral College.
A total of 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency. Trump topped Clinton in this decisive category, 304-227.
The incumbent hopes history repeats. Democrat Joe Biden will pummel Republican Trump in California, the most populous state. Biden also will run well in the densely packed parts of the Northeast.
For Trump to win, he again would have to carry a half-dozen swing states. Political handlers claim many different states are up for grabs, but sorting out the electoral map is elementary.
The state Republican Party chairman says New Mexico is one of the places in play. Is this truth or fiction?
Fiction. Democrats are running better than ever in Albuquerque, the population center that is key to winning any statewide race. Republicans used to show some muscle in the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District, but they haven’t won it since 2006.
Republicans in New Mexico have another problem. Their candidate for the U.S. Senate, Mark Ronchetti, denigrated Trump, then embraced him ahead of a competitive primary election. A wishy-washy candidate high on the Republican ticket won’t help himself or Trump in the general election.
Something called the Voter Protection Project calls Texas “the most important battleground state in 2020.” Is it truth or fiction?
More fiction. A Democratic presidential candidate has not carried Texas since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Biden will be stronger along the Red River than Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren would have, but Texas is still Trump’s to lose.
Beto O’Rourke was supposed to be Texas Democrats’ breakthrough candidate in the 2018 Senate race. O’Rourke lost despite raising a record $80 million, more than double the total of his opponent, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Truth or fiction, Trump is positioned to again win the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin?
Pure fiction. Trump told residents of depressed manufacturing regions they would see a rebirth if he won in 2016. It didn’t happen.
Rust Belt voters who gambled on Trump four years ago will be looking for a change, especially after his slowfooted response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It made their weak economy worse.
Truth or fiction, a close election favors Trump?
Nothing rings more true. Biden is sure to lose if something similar to the 2000 presidential race occurs.
Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote 20 years ago, but Republican George W. Bush took the presidency after a 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ended recounting in Florida.
Bush won Florida by 537 votes of 6 million cast. Had Gore taken the state, he would have been president. That’s what the Electoral College came down to.
This year’s election could be a blowout, truth or fiction?
True again. Biden could tear open the race by flipping a couple of states that Trump is banking on. Arizona and North Carolina are the best possibilities in a year of turmoil.
With the economy in shambles, Trump has lost the issue he intended to run on. Worse for him, the country needs a healer after George Floyd’s death at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.
Truth or fiction, Biden should borrow
a line Ronald Reagan used 40 years ago?
Oh so true. Reagan asked voters if they were better off than they were four years before. Towering interest rates and American hostages in Iran were enormous problems for Reagan’s opponent, President Carter. Trump is in a deeper hole.
Trump can still win, truth or fiction?
True. His negatives are high and his poll numbers are low, but this is America.
His best ally neither speaks nor breathes. Trump’s chance is based on the peculiar system of giving less weight to popular votes than the state-by-state apportionment of ballots.
The Electoral College might save him again. It belongs on the same scrap heap as Trump University.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.