Having been apolitical all the way through my life including the 2000 election when I was a freshman in high school, I imagine my former self would have been very surprised to see how much time I spend reading as well as the work I did last year to elect Claire McCaskill to the US Senate.
After suffering through 12 years of my 21 years on earth with a Bush President, I am going to admit a problem I have to the Kos community. I am addicted to the 2008 election.... I am literally obsessed and will gobble up any poll or information possible.
More on the flipside.
Lately, I've been playing around the website 270towin.com. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is a fine chance that we Democrats will have it even harder than we did in the past elections. You see, in 2000, winning even one more state like NH or TN would have simply vaulted us through to the presidency. In 2004, we got NH but lost IA and NM, but even taking those wouldn't have won it for us.
In all likelihood, although we may gain a possible vote here or there in California or maybe a New Mexico if we were to win it, the electoral shifts in population DO NOT favor us. That is part of why I have been trying to think of how to best the system. And here's what I came up with.
First of all, my findings could be easily discredited depending on who the new electoral votes shift to, but the main states that I am targetting are Virginia, New Hampshire, Iowa, New Mexico, and Nevada. I really believe that we can win any of these states, but it won't come easy. This is why I think that people need to stop thinking about Mark Warner becoming a senate candidate or gubernatorial candidate again for Virginia, we need a Democratic president much more than we need one more democratic senator! I have heard he's not in it for the VP spot, well too bad! If there is a huge movement to draft Gore for the presidency, than why in the world can't I start a draft Warner for VP because I think it would nearly ensure us electoral triumph! If you pressure him he'd probably crack for us.
We're talking about a guy who left office with somethign like an 80% approval rating from a state that has gone for Republicans in at least the last 10 elections! I'm not one of those people that assumes that having an official from a particular state wins the state for you (Gore-TN-2000, Edwards-NC-2004), but I think Warner is the strongest VP candidate that there can possibly be, even better than Richardson.
If we win all of these states, we win an electoral victory of 282-256! Even after electoral shifts we can still afford to lose one of those states and still probably win. The key is winning Virginia though, and I think we can.
Tell me what you think. I'd especially appreciate comments on the viability of this plan, a Mark warner VP, and where the electoral votes will come and go to.