One Last Political Post...

Anything to keep my mind off the little girl with the big fever sleeping upstairs in her crib...

Things I would like to see change in our political world:
1. The electoral college: It's an outmoded concept. Computers folks...we can count all the votes now.

2. Winner-Take-All-States: Obama won by approx. 10% over McCain. Why did he have over a hundred more electoral college votes? Winner takes all states...again, we can count on more than our fingers and toes now with them new-fangled computer-thingys...We can't handle splitting 50 states' votes, if we have to keep the EC?

3a. Reporting. Seriously. I was screaming at the TV using nasty words in front of my daughter. How the hell can you call Kentucky with 8% of the vote in? I mean, yes, we all "knew" that it would go Rep., but from a mathmatical standpoint, it's not a viable call! And how the hell did they call Vermont (Or was it NH?) with literally "0%" of the vote tallied? That means that they had one precinct that voted, didn't roll the percent-o-meter over to 1%, and they called it.

3b. Reporting stunts: The fancy schmantzy rotundas...and oh dear Gawd, the ice map. Seriously? and with 3a above...do y'all remember calling the last two elections too early? I was hoping someone would have to go out there, chisel Indiana out of the ice, repour it, and restain it.

3c. The Heisenberg Principal of Voting: I would, if I could make one change to this process, stop ANY and ALL reporting of election results until all polls in this country are called. We can live for 6 hours without knowing. We could watch reruns of X-Files or something instead. I have a hypothesis: the constant 24 hour thing changes elections:
a. If you know your guy is "really really winning" (with 8% being reported as a final call), you may not take the time to stand out there and wait to vote. You figure "it's in the bag", so why not go get that pizza instead?
b. If your guy is really losing, same thing...what's the point?
c. If you live on the West Coast, and a or b above, why vote? (Apparently for silly props out in CA, but that's another post for another time.)
We know that elections can come down to the wire. There can be a time where Wyoming will decide an election. But by reporting 3 time zones before their polls close, you can alter the behavior of the people who are still waiting to vote. It can also force people to get out and vote, if they see their candidate losing, and want to help change it. But, I think the observation of the election changes the election. I admit, it's probably minor at the national election level, a lot being negated by the electoral college and winner take all, but I think that causes more distortion at the local level. But, minor has changed elections recently. I wish we would stop this practice. Leave it to a big surprise at the end....

I am proud of America though. We got out there, a hell of a lot more of us used our voices. Now we have to keep using our voices to guide the people we are sending to Washington...to keep them honest. And I hope we've inspired the people who didn't speak up on Tuesday to consider it next time.