living in a swing state

Less than 30 minutes after the SC decision on Obamacare was official, the television ads started. For those who really hate politics, living in a swing state must be pretty much pure hell, but for people like me who love politics, it is just loads of fun. I get to see ALL the crazy from both sides!
Before I moved to Pa I lived in Oklahoma. As a very far left liberal, I may as well have just stayed home and had a pint of Hagen Dazs on election day, and I am sure that Republicans living in California and New York pretty much feel the same way. Now, however, since Pa is a swing state, I get a lot more out of the election season than I did when I lived in Oklahoma.

The fact that the results from certain states are pretty much foregone conclusions can lead to a lot of apathy towards our elections, I think. It is very hard to get people excited about the political process when so much of it is foregone.

Unfortunately, what our country has come down to is that our President is elected by about 6 states rather than 50.

TornadoSiren said:

Less than 30 minutes after the SC decision on Obamacare was official, the television ads started. For those who really hate politics, living in a swing state must be pretty much pure hell, but for people like me who love politics, it is just loads of fun. I get to see ALL the crazy from both sides!
Before I moved to Pa I lived in Oklahoma. As a very far left liberal, I may as well have just stayed home and had a pint of Hagen Dazs on election day, and I am sure that Republicans living in California and New York pretty much feel the same way. Now, however, since Pa is a swing state, I get a lot more out of the election season than I did when I lived in Oklahoma.

The fact that the results from certain states are pretty much foregone conclusions can lead to a lot of apathy towards our elections, I think. It is very hard to get people excited about the political process when so much of it is foregone.

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When the electoral college dies, all votes will matter no matter where you live.

poweRob said:

When the electoral college dies, all votes will matter no matter where you live.

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yeah, I agree with that, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. I have heard a lot of talk about it, read a lot of people who are fighting for it, but there seems to be little to no real momentum towards it. I don't see such a fundamental change happening in my lifetime. Hell, if the 2000 fiasco didn't get that ball rolling, I can't imagine what would.

disneydude said:

Unfortunately, what our country has come down to is that our President is elected by about 6 states rather than 50.

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This is not really exactly accurate. The electoral votes coming from the other states is what makes the electoral votes from the remaining states so important. That is like saying that the final run in a game is the only reason the game was won. The previous runs set up the situation that allowed that final home-run to be the decider.

What it does do, however, is make it so that the politicians tend to play to the swing states much more than the others, and that is absolutely not right.

TornadoSiren said:

yeah, I agree with that, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. I have heard a lot of talk about it, read a lot of people who are fighting for it, but there seems to be little to no real momentum towards it. I don't see such a fundamental change happening in my lifetime. Hell, if the 2000 fiasco didn't get that ball rolling, I can't imagine what would.

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I think the momentum to kill the EC generally comes after each prez election. All the states that passed these bills have a trigger so they are hibernated law that don't go fully active until enough states pass this same law. So they are a done deal and that is 49% of the way there right now.

TornadoSiren said:

This is not really exactly accurate. The electoral votes coming from the other states is what makes the electoral votes from the remaining states so important. That is like saying that the final run in a game is the only reason the game was won. The previous runs set up the situation that allowed that final home-run to be the decider.

What it does do, however, is make it so that the politicians tend to play to the swing states much more than the others, and that is absolutely not right.

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There is a lot of truth to what you say....however, using your analogy. It is sort of like the first 8 innings being played with the third string and only putting in the first string for the final inning.
Although, technically you are correct, the reality is, the Presidency is really decided by about 6 states....and all the players involve know this and really only focus on those states.

disneydude said:

Unfortunately, what our country has come down to is that our President is elected by about 6 states rather than 50.

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Everybody's vote counts. It's just so happens that outside of the swings states political preferences are not evenly split.

To be honest, strong partisans, which are the majority of Americans, sort of fall into a similar class. Unless a voter open-minded and willing to give all sides and considerations a thorough hearing, refusing to relinquish their political automony to a party, they're also letting 12% of the public select their leaders.

poweRob said:

When the electoral college dies, all votes will matter no matter where you live.

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Fun trivia: A lot of people are unaware that people living in the US territories are just as much US citizens are people living in Nebraska. The only reason they don't vote for president or have voting representation in congress is the constitutional power of state governments but noting in the constitution giving power to territorial governments. Eleminating the EC transfers the power to elect the potus from the states to the people. Won't it be fun to have a close presidential election and the whole country is waiting on the votes to come in from Fredericksted, who is taking forever to certify and will be the deciding factor on the leader of the free world?

There is one way to eliminate the special focus on the swing states while keeping the electoral college intact. Outlaw political polls in the interest of fair elections; both media polls and for enteral campaign intelligence. It will never happen but that would do it.

The only thing I see that would do away with the electoral college would be if we get a tring third party or if independent candidates started doing really well. If there's a tight 4-way race and somebody gets elected potus with just 26% of the vote while 74% voted against him, I'd be willing to bet we'd have direct election of the president and the instant runoff real soon.

poweRob said:

When the electoral college dies, all votes will matter no matter where you live.

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the downside is that flyover states may be largely ignored.

the upside is that it might remove an obstacle to third parties.

currently, i support EC for the former reason. but i'm keeping an open mind.

I live in Florida, and there is NO commercial break on TV where there is not a political ad. The radio too. It's insanity. But I love it. Most of my family gets annoyed by the ads, though. It actually turns most people off on politics.

TornadoSiren said:

yeah, I agree with that, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. I have heard a lot of talk about it, read a lot of people who are fighting for it, but there seems to be little to no real momentum towards it. I don't see such a fundamental change happening in my lifetime. Hell, if the 2000 fiasco didn't get that ball rolling, I can't imagine what would.

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Exactly what we needed in 2000 was a 50 state recount. Florida was enough of a mess, we did not need to be recounting the entire country.

I, for one, think the electoral college is ingenious. It is completely consistent with our federalist system, creating 50 independent elections. I think the system works very well, though the Recons will probably be against it a year from now as their guy has a shot of winning the popular, but will likely lose the electoral.

I would classify Penn as a competitive state, rather than a swing state. Its pretty blue. If the election is bad enough that it comes down to Penn, then the guy that relied on Penn is not going to win.