Interesting poly-stuff

There is a move afoot to change the way electorial votes are allocated to presidential candidates in California. Essentially, the proposal is this: instead of giving all of the 55 electorial votes to the statewide winner as happens now, California's Presidential electors would be allocated by Congressional district, with two electors going to the overall winner.

By way of background: in a Presidential election, each state selects a number of "electors" ("the Electorial College") equal to its combined representation in the US Congress (House and Senate), said electors then travel to DC to elect the President. California has 53 Congressmembers and two US Senators, and a recent history of being carried in Presidential elections by the Democratic candidate.

In 2004, the Kerry / Edwards ticket carried California and gained the 55 electorial votes. If this proposal passes, and the 53 votes are split between the candidate based on which political party holds which district. 19 districts are held by Republicans; Shrub carried 22 of them in 2004. If the Republican 2008 candidate does just as well, that's an additional 22 votes -- the same number as Ohio has.

We all remember how decisive Ohio was in the 2004 election, right?

This proposal, curreently being circulated as an initiative petition, is just another Republican scam. If EVERY state changed to this system, I'd be behind it. As matters stand, never.