Advertise Here

Deliver your message to thousands of readers every day.

Our readers are influential opinion makers - politicians, journalists and activists.

Our latest headlines

About Us

The California Progress Report is published by Frank D. Russo, a longtime observer of and participant in California politics.

About Frank Russo.
About California Progress Report.

Got a news tip? Want to write a guest column? Contact Frank here.

Get a Laugh Out of This Mailer I Got From Republicans Seeking Signatures for Their Electoral College Dirty Tricks!

By Dante Atkins
Nom de Net "hekebolos"

I opened my mailbox this afternoon to find something truly amazing--and something I just knew couldn't have been for a Democratic activist like myself: an envelope from California Counts, the organization funded by Darrell Issa to resurrect the Dirty Tricks Initiative from the dead. It turns out that, yes, the envelope was in fact directed to whatever Republican apparently dared to inhabit my apartment before my girlfriend and I arrived to dispel the traces of the dark side that must have apparently been lingering there.

Regardless, I considered it a stroke of good fortune that this thing fell into my lap--not only because it allows me an opportunity to give some insight into what they're up to, but also because it's downright hilarious--including the picture!

First and foremost, I have to admit that what they're doing is rather sophisticated--the envelope contains a fundraising letter from Darrell Issa, as well as a petition to sign. So it seems organized in that regard, though a little bit on the expensive side--collecting petition signatures through direct mail can't be that easy a process.

The fundraising solicitation is pretty boilerplate, with the usual talking points about how it's not a partisan initiative because Michael Dukakis got 48% of the vote in 1988 but still didn't get any electoral votes, and how candidates have no reason to come to California, etcetera, whereas the new initiative already in use in other states (namely, the powerhouses of Maine and Nebraska) will lead candidates to campaign in every district of California.

Of course, why it will do that is still a mystery, give the fact that most CDs in California are hopelessly gerrymandered and even if you could find one that was still in play, it's a lot easier to stay in the East Coast and campaign in New Hampshire and Maine for 4 votes a piece than to come all the way out here to see if maybe, just maybe, you can peel off one measly EV you might not otherwise have gotten.

But I get ahead of myself. You see, the fundraising letter makes a big deal about how the initiative is non-partisan. And yet for some reason Darrell Issa just has to mention that he helped organize the recall of Gray Davis, and that the "liberal media" wants to convince you that the initiative has a partisan purpose.

Even at that, I may have been willing to suspend my disbelief and assume for the sake of magnanimity that California Counts really did believe in their heart of hearts that the recall was purely about accountability, and that the Dirty Tricks Initiative really is non-partisan, and that the media is just inherently liberal in its reporting that the initiative has a partisan purpose, even though it is funded by Darrell Issa, the financiers of the Swift Boat Vets, Hitachk and other well-known GOP operatives. But the envelope that the solicitation came in kind of burst my bubble a little bit:

So basically, it's non-partisan, it really is, except for the fact that the liberal media doesn't think so, it's organized by the same guy who recalled Gray Davis, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want you to open the letter. So other than the fact that Republicans are pushing for it and it will hurt Democrats and the media thinks it's a dishonest piece of crap--other than that, it's non-partisan.

It's funny in certain ways--but very sad and simultaneously very terrifying in others--that the Republicrooks can be so hypocritical that they will contradict themselves so repeatedly and so patently in fundraising solicitations to their own supporters. I don't know how they live with the logical disconnect. But then again, that's why I'm not a Republican. As Bill Clinton said in his speech at the Empowerment Summit at UCLA over the weekend:

I spent a long time trying to get into the reality based world, and I like it here.

I'm right with you there, Mr. President.

Dante Atkins lives in Los Angeles and works as a qualitative research consultant. He posts as "hekebolos" on DailyKos and Calitics, and serves on the Platform Committee of the California Democratic Party. This article originally appeared in Calitics and is republished with the permission of the author.

Posted on November 06, 2007

Comments

I don't think this initiative is any different then the Democrats attempt to have a handful of states sign on to give all their electoral votes to the popular vote winner.

Actually I think this idea about giving an electoral vote for winning each congressional district (much like you do in 2 other states already doing it), plus the 2 electoral votes (representing the number of Senators in each state) to the winner of that state would be as about as close as the Electoral College Vote winner mirroring the winner of the popular vote.

And you have to remember. The winner of the popular vote who doesn't win the Electoral vote has only happened a few times in the history of this nation.

And until you get a larger voter turn out (at least 85 to 90 percent), you would just have to learn to use the best possible solution at this time.

Posted by: Darrell Northam at November 6, 2007 02:10 PM

It seems to me that this ability to have Electoral College votes be delivered on a voting district basis just drives the impotence of individual voters up the scale of value.

It seems to me that it will help everyone’s vote count more and I am all for that.

California’s liberal leadership has driven the state into a financial hell hole. At least this way we can still bring conservative pressure on a national level even if the state economy is being destroyed by liberal elitists.

Thanks Darrell Issa for helping advance democracy.

Posted by: CJ Testify at November 6, 2007 03:05 PM

Ok, then, guys--I would expect you both to lobby long and hard for the same thing to happen in Texas and Florida.

But the real point was about how California Counts is saying it's non-partisan AND it's Hillary's worst nightmare in the same mailing.

Posted by: Dante Atkins at November 6, 2007 04:28 PM

Oh, please! Why do you suppose this is being proposed in California? Because California almost always votes for the Democrat. Who stands to gain some electoral votes here? The Republicans. And if they gain say 35% of California's 55 electoral votes, that's like adding an additional mid-size state to the map and guaranteeing its electors to the Republican candidate. It would mean a win for the Republicans in every closely contested race. If they really wanted to play fair, if they were really concerned about individual voters' votes in every state, they'd be proposing this also in states that traditionally vote Republican. I'll consider supporting it when it is a nationwide change. But not when it's just a ploy to grap some electors for the Republican. (If the Florida electors were divided like this in 2000, Al Gore would be president today - even without a recount of the ballots.)

Posted by: Jeanie Wallace at November 6, 2007 04:46 PM

You have a girlfriend?

Look, just because a real man lived there before you does not mean that you can't grow some stones and sign it.

It's not a dirty trick, but it is fair.

Daniel

Posted by: Daniel at November 7, 2007 11:12 AM

Could the picture of Hillary be construed as part of an illegal presidential campaign effort, especially if Guiliani people are involved in this initiative?

Posted by: Jim Carlile at November 8, 2007 09:44 PM

Isn't it illegal to intentionally open mail addressed to someone else?

Their name was blacked out. Maybe they would have liked this forwarded to them. Was this an act of disenfranchising an individual voter perhaps in intentionally denying them access to their mail?

Posted by: Jay Gould at November 8, 2007 11:50 PM

If we are to keep the Electoral College, then proportional represetnation of electoral college votes is essential to maintaining our democracy.

Personally, I'd rather repeal the Electoral College all together and go to direct popular vote using instant runnoff single transferrable voting (IRV STV). But if people are not prepared to terminate the Electoral College then it needs to be redesigned to provide proportional allocation of votes. This winner take all system has maimed American democracy making presidential elections largely dysfunctional.

Posted by: Gregory Wonderwheel at December 1, 2007 08:04 AM

Get Email Updates

Want the California Progress Report by email? Once a week, we'll send you the latest and greatest headlines.

Stat tracker