Edit: now Civic's read it - the US presidential 'choices'

[asdf_admin]

^^^ not my fault people like to live in a in tin can with no room.

HBK. it has worked. Just not lately, because Al Gore lost. :wink:

[toasty]

I'll preface this by saying that I don't personally have a huge problem with the electoral college apart from just thinking it is silly in this day and age, but I'll throw this out there:

Can anyone explain why we still need it?

[asdf_admin]

tradition. i think that is it. :wink:

[Jenks]

http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf

pretty valid arguments both for and against the system.

it still seems like a good idea to me in order to protect rural interests from being overrun by large metropolitan areas.

the downside being that there is a rare possibility that in a close election the less popular candidate will win, which we saw in 2000. However, with a vote that close, it says that either candidate can govern equally as good as the other since the votes were nearly split in half.

[HoneyBearKelly]

^^^ not my fault people like to live in a in tin can with no room.

HBK. it has worked. Just not lately, because Al Gore lost. :wink:

Actually my complaint is that it ignored the popular vote. i always figured the team with the most votes wins.

[asdf_admin]

sure. i can understand that.

Question(s) ...

So why does the "media" reflect on and show the popular vote when really it comes down to the EC? Wouldn't there just be more peace in the world if we went by what gets our Pres into office?

[Jenks]

The vote is rarely so narrow that it comes down to the electoral college, in which case, because it's so close, either candidate could govern equally (so they say.) In the case of 2000, i'd say WHEW, Gore, holy hell that would have been worse than Bush, imo of course.

Last time it happened was Harry Truman who lost the popular vote as well. (and damn glad he was president too, the last great Democrat imo. If the Democratic party could be what it was in the days of FDR and Truman, i'd be on their side. It isn't even a worthy comparison these days. Truman or Kerry, damn, can't even mention them in the same breath.)