As most of you know, California has a fairly easy proposition process which overrides state law and anything the (overwhelmingly Democratic) Legislature can do.
The GOP, clearly led by Karl Rove, wants to fundamentally shift the balance of the national vote by putting an amendment on the ballot to divide California's electoral votes the same way that Nebraska and Maine do - two go to the state wide winner, the others go by CD.
The net effect of this, should it pass, would be to shift 20+ electoral votes to the GOP, enough to change the outcome of many elections to the GOP's favor.
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This would be catastrophic. I assume that Rove is prepared to spend millions to pass this; it is a "common sense" (on paper idea that could be sold to the voters, particularly if Schwarzenegger gets behind it. (The rationale is that California will get attention from national candidates if it passes, although this is likely doubtful, since the districts are drawns so they are strongly one party or the other).
The plan also is to put this on the ballot for the June primary - which will not have anything to do with the presidential race, and which will be lightly voted in since there are no statewide offices up next year. It would go into effect for next year.
California's Democatic party is not organizationally strong, there are no well-known figures (apart from the two US Senators).
Here is what I propose, and suggesr Kossacks get totally behind:
This proposition is enough of a threat that merely opposing it might not be enough.
What is needed is an alternative proposition, incorporating the following language:
Irrespective of any other action voted on, no proportioning of California's electoral votes shall be done unless all three of the next largest states take similar action (in other words, Texas, Florida and New York).
This needs to be the most important task for loyal Democrats in the next few weeks. Getting a proposition on the ballot is time consuming and expensive (I don't know what the deadline is for June, but I assume there is some time).
We need to play this really, really smart.
This is not meant to turn into a debate about the Electoral College. It exists, it is not about to be changed anytime soon. This is about reality and possibly who becomes the next president.