Outside the Beltway

Unclear on the Concept (Alabama Electoral Vote Edition)

Steven L. Taylor
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Via the AP:  9 somber Alabama Republicans cast Electoral College votes for Romney

Electoral College member Terry Lathan of Mobile said the ceremony was bittersweet. "I’m proud of our state," she said. "I think we got it right. I’m sad for our country."

Another member, state Senate Republican Leader Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills, said, "It’s kind of a downer."

Waggoner and Lathan said they hope the presidential election is never switched to a popular vote because candidates would ignore small states such as Alabama. As it was, all major Republican candidates visited Alabama, with some making multiple trips, Lathan said.

Ok, so 1) Alabama was, in fact, almost entirely ignored in the general election, and 2) the major Republican candidates visited the state during the nomination phase of the electoral cycled and that was because Alabama had (wisely) an early primary. 

Is it too much to ask that our elected officials/persons chosen to participate in public life have some idea as to how things work?

The true downer here is the lack of basic understanding being displayed here.

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15 responses to “Unclear on the Concept (Alabama Electoral Vote Edition)”

  1. swbarnes2 Avatar
    swbarnes2

    Is it too much to ask that our elected officials/persons chosen to participate in public life have some idea as to how things work?

    Republicans are clearly getting the kind of quality members that their platform attracts, and their voters desire.

  2. Neil Hudelson Avatar
    Neil Hudelson

    Psssst, hey Tsar. THIS is irony. It is development portrays an intention or attitude opposite to that which is stated or assumed by the viewer.

    Please, study this.

  3. That Other Mike Avatar
    That Other Mike

    @Neil Hudelson: If Alabama was a stock, I’d sell it short.

  4. Anderson Avatar
    Anderson

    Steven, they’re Republican. AND Alabamian. That makes them doubly disadvantaged. I’m impressed they knew there even was an electoral college.

    (Ragging on you from next door in Mississippi, where all the men are Republican, all the women are submissive, and all the children are below average.)

  5. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills

    A secondary character from As I Lay Dying?

  6. That Other Mike Avatar
    That Other Mike

    @de stijl: Or The Hobbit.

  7. SC_Birdflyte Avatar
    SC_Birdflyte

    As I tell my many Georgia cousins when they start bad-mouthing Atlanta, “Know what Georgia would be without Atlanta? Alabama.”

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @That Other Mike Alabama is still a state?

  9. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    Not that anyone would care about Alabama in a NPV.

  10. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andre Kenji: I disagree (but then, you know that).

    At the moment the reasons for candidates to campaign in Alabama is zero because the result of the EV is foreordained.

    Under a popular vote the incentive to campaign here would be greater than zero.

    Greater than zero is more than zero.

    There would certainly be an incentive to spend money, and even some time, in a state with a population of over 4 million.

  11. C. Clavin Avatar
    C. Clavin

    I bet they said

    “Roll Tide”

    right afterwards.

  12. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @Steven L. Taylor: There would certainly be an incentive to spend money, and even some time, in a state with a population of over 4 million.

    I don´t know. New Jersey has the double of this population in an area much smaller than Alabama. And both Democratic(Black) and Republican(white) votes in Alabama are very predictable.

    Besides that, very few Presidential candidates campaign in rural areas, specially in a NPV.

  13. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andre Kenji: I don’t consider Birmingham (or Mobile, Montgomery, or even Huntsville) as “rural.”

    There would be incentives to campaign in more places than there are now.

  14. Andre Kenji Avatar
    Andre Kenji

    @Steven L. Taylor: Not only I do consider these cities as rural areas but most campaign strategists probably would think the same. It´s hard to predict what candidates would do in a NPV, but it´s hard to imagine a scenario where a Presidential Candidate would care about Alabama.

    Maybe in a NPV a Black Democrat or a Evangelical Republican would try to use Alabama to booster turnout, but I would not bet my money on it. Specially because in most large countries areas with lower population are ignored.

  15. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andre Kenji: This is an odd, and nonstandard, definition of “rural.”

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