Electoral Votes

WASHINGTON - Closing the book on the tumultuous 2000 election, a good-natured Vice President Al Gore methodically blocked his supporters' attempts yesterday to prolong the drama and proclaimed George W. Bush the nation's 43rd president. Although Gore appeared to have accepted his fate, Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried repeatedly to challenge the assignment of Florida's 25 electoral votes to Bush. "I must object because of the overwhelming evidence of official misconduct" in his state, said Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, a Florida Democrat, before he was shouted down by Republicans yelling, "Point of order!

A recent Baltimore Sun article, "Election remake hits hurdles," (Jan. 29) brings to light new thoughts on how to change the rules of the Electoral College. At the present time, all states use the winner-take-all system except two, Maine and Nebraska. These states allow a proportional electoral vote based on their congressional districts. The article relates how, recently, various governors, senators and congressmen have suggested various schemes for revising the rules, most of them based on the award of electoral votes by the popular vote winners in their congressional districts.

WASHINGTON -- Hopscotching across key battleground states, President Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton wound up the 1992 campaign with polls indicating Mr. Clinton still holds a comfortable lead among voters, who are expected to turn out in larger-than-usual numbers today.The president told a suburban Philadelphia crowd yesterday that "we are going to pull off one of the biggest surprises in political history," but a raspy-voiced Mr. Clinton was so confident that he introduced his wife, Hillary, to crowds as "the next first lady."

I think President Obama's claim that the election results were a mandate is stretching reality ("On taxes, 'Americans agree' with Obama, Axelrod says," Nov. 12). Approximately 120 million people voted in the election, and of that number a little more than 58 million voted for Mr. Romney. Mr. Obama's margin of victory was only about 1.6 percent. Almost half the voters opposed his policies. Granted, Mr. Obama won a clear majority of electoral votes. But the huge number of people who voted against him does not give him the mandate he claims.

CHICAGO - In a mad scramble for electoral votes, Vice President Al Gore hopscotched across the country yesterday, from eastern Pennsylvania to Chicago to Las Cruces, N.M., and then to Kansas City, pursuing a state-by-state victory strategy that he hopes will defy national polls that narrowly favor George W. Bush. Gore trumpeted a populist theme - that he could best maintain the nation's prosperity, while pursuing environmental, energy and health care policies that would put the people's interests over the special interests.

WASHINGTON - Texas Gov. George W. Bush expressed confidence yesterday that a recount in Florida would quickly confirm his victory over Vice President Al Gore, as one of the tightest presidential contests in history went into overtime. Democrats, meanwhile, counseled a go-slow approach to resolving the outcome. Teams of high-powered lawyers and officials of both campaigns mobilized for a possible battle over the Sunshine State's pivotal cache of electoral votes. Gore, despite having trailed in the opinion polls for most of the year, claimed a popular vote victory for himself and his running mate, Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

1825: The House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. 1950: Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged that the State Department was riddled with Communists. 1964: The Beatles made their first live appearance on American television on The Ed Sullivan Show. Associated Press

The House of Delegates approved a proposal yesterday that could make Maryland the first state in the nation to award its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote in presidential elections. The bill commits Maryland to a national compact that would go into effect only after states with electoral votes representing a national majority - the 270 required to win the presidency - also sign on. As such, it would likely not affect how the state's votes are counted in the 2008 contest - and could never be implemented if other states fail to approve similar measures.

THE DEMOCRATIC candidate for president wins the popular vote by a quarter of a million ballots, and the Republican thinks he has lost. Yet the crucial vote in Florida is in dispute -- as it is in several other key states. Delegations of "statesmen" descend on the Sunshine State with lawyers in tow, and lots of money. Ultimately, the election is decided on behalf of the Republican by a single electoral vote, and the friends of the defeated Democrat address him as "Mr. President" for the rest of his life.

The General Assembly has passed legislation that would bypass the Electoral College and elect the president by national (raw) popular vote. It is unconstitutional and bad for every voter in Maryland and in the United States. Gov. Martin O'Malley should not sign it. The bill is unconstitutional because the Constitution says "that no state ... shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate without its consent." This plan commits Maryland to a national compact that would go into effect after states with electoral votes representing a national majority - conceivably as few as 13 of the largest states - sign on to it. This would eliminate senatorial electoral votes and therefore harm every small and medium-size state, without its consent.

In President Barack Obama's much-anticipated acceptance speech in Charlotte, he sounded at times to be relying on the reverse of the old breakup line: "It's not you, it's me. " He told the American public that it is "you," and not he as president, who must hold firm behind his recovery efforts if the country is to bounce back economically over the next four years. Rather than taking advantage of Mitt Romney's failure in Tampa to provide specific details on what he would do to turn the economy around, Mr. Obama likewise fell short on any new approaches to break the stalemate.

Among Republicans, it is an article of faith that high unemployment and voter disapproval of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy should put Mitt Romney in the White House. Unfortunately, Republicans fail to grasp that challengers must offer a compelling alternative to unseat an incumbent. And other issues matter more to voters than party leaders care to recognize. Mr. Romney's platform lays out detailed proposals to improve U.S. competitiveness, develop more domestic energy, streamline regulations and lower health care costs, but those are too complex to capture voter attention.

An article in the Nov. 11, 1911, edition of The Argus reported an alert resident didn't hesitate to take aim at intruders threatening his chickens. Chicken thieves have been operating in the neighborhood of Catonsville this week. They visited the poultry houses of Mrs. Ellen Hill , at Shlyn, on the Frederick road, opposite Frederick Terrace, and those of Mr. Howard Mann , on Edmondson avenue, near North Bend land, Tuesday night. At the former place, they succeeded in carrying off eighteen fine fowls.

The world according to polls, or some part of it anyway, is telling us that former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain is now the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The latest NBC News/Wall Street public opinion survey has him the choice of 27 percent of GOP primary voters asked, to 23 for Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and only 16 for Rick Perry of Texas. Is there anybody in the general audience willing to bet his first-born, or even second or third, that Mr. Cain will be his party's nominee next year, let alone be sitting in the Oval Office come January 2013?

The editorial "Flunking Electoral College" (Dec. 16) suggests that the Electoral College should be abolished because "the system disenfranchises many voters and sometimes results in the candidate who wins the popular vote losing the presidency." The editorial then cites the law Gov. Martin O'Malley signed that "would award Maryland's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote regardless of who wins in this state." My question is: Who is disenfranchised if this law takes effect?

Yesterday in Annapolis, 10 electors representing Maryland in the Electoral College cast their ballots for Barack Obama. The Electoral College is an institution enshrined in the Constitution. It also is an archaic threat to our democracy because the system disenfranchises many voters and sometimes results in the candidate who wins the most votes losing the presidency. Just ask Al Gore; he won the popular vote but lost the White House because his electoral vote tally fell short. In many states, the Electoral College discourages potential voters who know the candidate they favor is likely to lose in a winner-take-all state election.

Lawmakers hoping to propel Maryland into a more prominent role in presidential campaigns have introduced bills that would award the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide. The aim is to prevent a repeat of the 2000 presidential election, in which Democratic nominee Al Gore won the popular vote but lost to Republican George W. Bush in the contest for electoral votes.

WASHINGTON -- With the Democratic National Convention only two weeks away, Gov. Bill Clinton's best chance to draw public and media attention from the Bush-Perot donnybrook over Perot's alleged super-snooping is to make an impressive selection of a running mate.At the same time, however, the fact that the November election now shapes up as a three-candidate affair could affect that choice in a way that would not be as high-minded as Clinton has vowed his selection will be. In the end, the possibility of a finish in which a handful of electoral votes make the difference could pressure him to make a more traditional, big-state choice after all.The Arkansas governor has pledged to pick someone who will be widely seen as qualified for the presidency without regard to the customary considerations of geography or other factors deemed to enhance the ticket's chances for victory.

There was little left to chance at yesterday's gathering of Maryland's electors. The ballots recording their choice of Barack Obama for president and Joe Biden for vice president were printed in advance and affixed with the state seal. The sheet cake in the hallway was adorned in blue and red icing depicting the Obama logo and the slogan "Yes We Did!" But what the event lacked in suspense - Obama won, for the record - it made up for in emotion. Schoolchildren had the 10 electors sign their programs, and the elaborate ritual of swearing in the electors, the roll call and certification of the vote, as well as the sealing of the ballots, lent an air of occasion to the convening of the state's representatives to the Electoral College.