Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

This is serious and we have to do something. We all know repubs can't win without cheating and their latest scheme seems foolproof.

Republicans WILL take the White House in 2016

As most here know, the national Republican party has now officially endorsed a scheme to make it all but impossible for a Democrat to win the White House, by splitting up the electoral votes of states Obama won. Under the plan, Obama would have lost to Romney last November despite winning 5 million more votes:

But there is one way to stop this. And it takes a LOT of work from you, right now.

To prevent Republicans from rigging the electoral college, we must switch to a national popular vote. And it really can be done: states worth 132 electoral votes have already pledged to allot all of their EVs to the national popular vote winner if other states, adding up to 270 EVs, pledge to do the same. With 138 EVs to go, the electoral college would be overruled by the national popular vote by 2016.

According to the National Popular Vote Project, the following states have passed legislation to make the switch:

• California (55 EVs)
• Illinois (20)
• New Jersey (14)
• Washington (12)
• Massachusetts (11)
• Maryland (10)
• Hawaii (4)
• Vermont (3)
• DC (3)

These additional states now have Democratic governors and legislatures and can now pass an NPV law:

• New York (29 EVs)
• Minnesota (10)
• Colorado (9)
• Connecticut (7)
• Oregon (7)
• West Virginia (5)
• Delaware (3)

Adding these states and their 70 EVs to the total would get us to 202 EVs with 68 to go. West Virginia might be tough, given its preference for Republican presidents. And in New York, six Democrats in safe Democratic districts decided to give control of the senate to a Republican-Independent coalition, even though Democrats have more senate seats. New Yorkers can debate in the comments the odds an NPV bill could pass there, or the odds the Democratic majority can retake control of the Senate in 2014.

To get the rest of the way to 270 will take ballot initiatives. Fortunately, polling shows Democrats, Republicans and independents all want to abolish the electoral college, by 66-30%, 61-30% and 63-29% margins, respectively. But we can expect Republican voters to change their minds once Fox News and the GOP echo chamber tell them it's an unconstitutional, undemocratic, anti-American liberal scheme. We can also hope Democratic and independent support rises once voters see what Republicans are plotting. Here, then, are states Obama won that have workable initiative processes and aren't listed above:

• Florida (29 EVs)*
• Ohio (18)*
• Michigan (16)*
• Nevada (6)
• Maine (4)

Asterisks denote states with Republican governors and legislators where a constitutional initiative would be necessary to prevent the legislature from overturning public will. Adding these states and their 73 EVs would total 275 EVs, 5 EVs past the goal, enough to be able to lose West Virginia and maintain 270 EVs.

There are also some long-shot states — red states with constitutional initiative processes — that we can fall back on in case New York or other blue states prove intractable. Here they are, in order of narrowest 2012 loss for Obama:

• Arizona (11 EVs) -9% margin
• Missouri (10) -9%
• Mississippi (6) -12%
• Montana (3) -14%
• South Dakota (3) -18%
• North Dakota (3) -20%
• Nebraska (5) -22%
• Arkansas (6) -24%
• Oklahoma (7) -34%

So here's what needs to be done. The quick band-aid fix is to pass winner-take-all constitutional amendments in Florida, Ohio and Michigan to block the Republican strategy. These amendments would simply declare that all of the state's electoral votes must go to the winner. That obvious and simple proposal should be popular enough to win relatively easily, and could possibly foil the national GOP plot all on its own. The next step is to pass NPV initiatives in Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and Maine.

We also need to contact the governors, legislatures and state Democratic parties in New York, Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, West Virginia and Delaware and not only get them on board but find powerful champions for the cause to make sure NPV laws pass. Alternatively, NPV initiatives can be passed in Colorado and Oregon.

We also need to contact the DNC to get them organizing with the states on NPV. Also, forward this info to your favorite local and national progressive blogs, columnists, TV and radio talk hosts, political leaders and advocacy organizations.

TALKING POINT:

Hi! As you may know, the national Republican party has endorsed a scheme to make it all but impossible for Democrats to win the White House, by splitting up the electoral votes of states Obama won. Under the plan, Obama would have lost to Romney last November despite winning 5 million more votes. ( tinyurl.com/gopscheme ) But there's one way to prevent this from happening, which is to switch from the electoral college to a national popular vote. Several states have already made the switch to a national popular vote. ( tinyurl.com/npvplan ) I'm urging you to please read about and support a switch in order to prevent Republicans from exploiting loopholes in the electoral college. Thank you very much!

TAKE ACTION!

EVERYONE: Contact the DNC, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, and any other influencers you'd like, and urge them to support the National Popular Vote Project.

COLORADO: Contact Governor Hickenlooper, the Colorado Democratic Party, your state senator and representative, and Square State and urge them to support NPV legislation.

CONNECTICUT: Contact Governor Malloy, the Democratic Party of Connecticut, your state senator and representative (scroll down after submitting), and My Left Nutmeg and urge them to support NPV legislation.

DELAWARE: Contact Governor Markell, the Delaware Democratic Party, your state senator and representative, and Delaware Liberal and urge them to support NPV legislation.

FLORIDA: Contact the Florida Democratic Party, FLA Politics, The Seminole Democrat, and Beach Peanuts and urge them to support a winner-take-all amendment and an NPV amendment.

MAINE: Contact the Maine Democratic Party and Dirigo Blue and urge them to support an NPV initiative.

MICHIGAN: Contact the Michigan Democratic Party, Blogging for Michigan, and Michigan Liberal and urge them to support a winner-take-all amendment and an NPV amendment.

MINNESOTA: Contact Governor Dayton, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, your state senator and representative, and the MN Progressive Project and urge them to support NPV legislation.

NEW YORK: Contact Governor Cuomo, the New York State Democratic Committee, your state senator, your state assembly member, and The Albany Project and urge them to support NPV legislation.

NEVADA: Contact the Nevada Democratic Party and Nevada Progressive and urge them to support an NPV initiative.

OHIO: Contact the Ohio Democratic Party, Ohio Daily, and Grumpy Abe and urge them to support a winner-take-all amendment and an NPV amendment.

OREGON: Contact Governor Kitzhaber, the Democratic Party of Oregon, your state senator and representative, and Blue Oregon and urge them to support NPV legislation.

WEST VIRGINIA: Contact Governor Tomblin, the West Virginia Democratic Party, your state senator and delegate, and West Virginia Blue and urge them to support NPV legislation.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/24/1181394/-Republicans-WILL-take-the-White-House-in-2016