Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: electoral college

electoral college stories: 21 news summaries

1 - 20 of 21 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

OPINION

Sneak Attack on Electoral College Gains Ground


Jul 17, 09 1:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Opponents of the Electoral College are making progress on an end run around the institution with the goal of setting up a system that would decide the presidential election solely on the popular vote, Tara Ross writes for the Weekly Standard. “Formally eliminating the Electoral College through a constitutional... More »

MORE ABOUT:
electoral college • US Constitution • state legislature • governor • presidential election • National Popular Vote

OPINION

Texas Wants to Secede? That Sounds Great!

Democrats would love to have state's 34 electoral votes back

Apr 17, 09 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Rick Perry’s talk of seceding from the union might seem crazy, but calling the Texas governor's bluff would be a great deal for Democrats, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. Consider:
  • Democrats would suddenly have a filibuster-proof majority in the 98-seat Senate.
  • Republicans would lose eight more
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Texas • electoral college • Rick Perry • secession • Election 2008 • George W. Bush • electoral votes

Pelosi Sacks
Fla. Rep's Plea to Delay Votes for Gator Game

Ocala pol wanted to suspend biz for football

Jan 7, 09 8:57 AM CST
(Newser) - A Florida congressman asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to postpone certifying the election of Barack Obama and other business so the Florida and Oklahoma delegations can attend the Gators and Sooners BCS championship game tomorrow, AP reports. "Madam Speaker, kindly consider," Republican Cliff Stearns pleaded in a handwritten... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nancy Pelosi • electoral college • Florida Gators • NCAA football • House of Representatives • Oklahoma Sooners • President-elect Obama • Cliff Stearns

OPINION

 Electoral College Needs Rehab 

State-level apportioning is the only viable way towards electing the president by popular vote

Dec 15, 08 6:32 PM CST
(Newser) - The 538 electors chosen to represent the will of the people cast their ballots for president today, officially ending the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain, writes Randall Lane for the New York Times. The otherwise-predictable ritual included a twist: a Nebraska elector voting for the candidate who won... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Omaha • Nebraska • Election 2008 • electoral votes

Nebraska Splits Electoral Votes, in First; Obama Gets 1

Dem will get slice of state's 5

Nov 14, 08 5:08 PM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama has won a single Nebraska electoral vote in post-election counting, the first time the state has split the vote since a 1991 law allowed the practice, the AP reports. No Democrat has gotten a vote in the state since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Nebraska • Election 2008 • electoral votes • President Obama

(Newser) - The campaigns would have you believe that lots of states are still in play, but only five really matter at this point, writes Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com. They are Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, and Ohio. Silver emphasizes that "by far the most likely scenario" is that Barack Obama... More »

MORE ABOUT:
electoral college • Obama 2008 • campaign • McCain 2008 • Election 2008

ANALYSIS


 McCain 
 Running
 in Place:  
 Polls

Obama has a 96.7% chance of victory, 538 predicts

Oct 28, 08 12:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain isn’t gaining any ground in the polls, according to FiveThirtyEight, which pegs Obama’s odds of victory at 96.7% to McCain’s 3.3%. As of yesterday, polls predict a final electoral score of 351-187, numbers unchanged from the day before. National tracking polls showed minuscule... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Election 2008 • poll numbers

ANALYSIS

John McCain, Here's How You Can Still Win This Election

Forget about Pa.; focus on Virginia, Florida, FiveThirtyEight says

Oct 26, 08 12:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain, the polls aren’t looking good and your running mate is being accused of going “rogue,” but Nate Silver has some advice on how you can still eke out a victory. “No razzle-dazzle here,” Silver writes for FiveThirtyEight, “McCain simply has to pick... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida • John McCain • Iowa • Wisconsin • electoral college • New Hampshire • New Mexico • Ohio • North Carolina • Pennsylvania • Indiana • Virginia • Minnesota • Missouri • Colorado • Nate Silver

A Baseball Nerd Turns to
Election Stats

Nate Silver was right
on the Rays; he's now calling the presidency

Oct 15, 08 11:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - Give the sheer number of political polls being produced, and the history of many of them proving wrong, it takes a seriously smart statistician (and something of a nerd) to predict the presidential race with any authority. Nate Silver, the man who "revolutionized the interpretation of baseball stats,"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Obama 2008 • Tampa Bay Devil Rays • statistics • predictions • baseball • McCain 2008 • Election 2008 • polls • Nick Silver

 Obama Eyes Omaha 
 to Split Neb. Votes 

Campaign wants to pick up just one of Nebraska's electoral votes

Oct 6, 08 7:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - Forty-eight of 50 states award electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, but Nebraska, divvies up electoral votes by congressional district—and the Obama campaign sees an opening, reports the Washington Post. By concentrating just on the Omaha area, the Democrats are trying to pick up a single electoral vote in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • electoral college • Omaha • Nebraska • red state • Election 2008 • Sarah Palin • electoral votes

 Rove: Obama Wins 
 if Vote Were Today 

Republican strategist calls some close states for the Democrat

Oct 5, 08 1:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Karl Rove isn't seeing red when he looks at his crystal electoral map, reports Politico, and is seeing enough blue to propel Barack Obama into the White House if the vote were held today. The GOP strategist has moved Minnesota and New Hampshire into the Democratic column, but cautions that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Karl Rove • electoral college • New Hampshire • Virginia • Minnesota • Election 2008 • swing states

Dire Economy Boosts Obama in Swing States 

GOP has hard time making case to worried voters for 4 more years

Oct 5, 08 9:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - As voters turn green over the shaky economy, the electoral map is turning blue, according to a New York Times tally. Barack Obama is hitting hard in nine states that George Bush took in 2004 and weren’t expected to be tossups this close to November—forcing John McCain to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • blue states • Election 2008 • economy • swing states • financial crisis

ANALYSIS

 Oh, No: They Could Tie 

The 1% chance of Obama and McCain fighting to a draw has web humming

Sep 26, 08 2:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - It’s not inconceivable that the 2008 election could end in an electoral tie. OK, granted, the odds are roughly 99-1, but that 1% chance is enough to send politics geeks flocking to sites such as FiveThirtyEight.com, which conduct complex electoral simulations based on the latest polling, the More »

MORE ABOUT:
electoral college • Election 2008 • poll numbers

Alaska Turning Purple as Election Nears

Obama leads in poll; Democrat hasn't taken state since 1964

Aug 14, 08 12:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The cold, snowy tundras of Alaska may transform into a battleground this November as Barack Obama and John McCain vie for the Land of the Midnight Sun's three electoral votes. Alaska hasn't gone blue since 1964, when LBJ won in a landslide, but an Anchorage-based poll currently has Obama leading... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • Alaska • electoral college • Ted Stevens • Election 2008

Perennial Swing State Ohio Looks Blue

Rejuvenated local Dems bode well for Obama campaign

Aug 1, 08 11:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ohio is the ultimate swing state: Since 1960 no president has been elected without winning its electoral votes, and in 2004, by the narrowest of margins, it delivered George W. Bush a second term. But this time around, Democrats are confident of their chances, the Economist reports. The state party... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Ohio • Ted Strickland • Democratic Party • Election 2008 • Sherrod Brown

analysis

 How Obama Could Get Gored 

As in 2000, Dem could win popular vote, lose Electoral College to Republican

Jun 19, 08 3:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Observers are speculating about a split decision in November, with John McCain winning the presidency while Barack Obama takes the popular vote—and Harry Siegel, in Politico, says the chances might not be that slim. Obama looks likely to build massive margins in coastal states (already safely Democratic) while making... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • North Carolina • Indiana • Bob Barr • popular vote

Obama's Electoral Math:
Win Without Ohio, Fla. 

Dem aims to keep Kerry states, add Virginia, Georgia, in Mountain West

Jun 16, 08 11:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama is hardly giving up on Florida and Ohio, but campaign manager David Plouffe thinks the Democrat can win without them. “You have a lot of ways to get to 270,” Plouffe says. “Our goal is not to be reliant on one state on Nov. 4.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • electoral college • Obama 2008 • David Plouffe • Election 2008

 Could McCain 
 Win Big? 

GOP strategists say cards stacked for big electoral victory

May 24, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Despite the odds stacked against Republicans, GOP analysts are cautiously saying that John McCain will not only win, but he might do so by a comfortable margin, Politico reports. When Obama’s specific and geographical weaknesses are played against McCain’s strengths, the result adds up to a win of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • electoral college • Republican Party • Democratic Party

Boot the Electoral College: Salon

System is an undemocratic throwback, writes Garrett Epps

Oct 13, 07 5:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Electoral College is "a loaded gun pointed directly at the heart of our democracy," writes Garrett Epps in Salon, and it's high time to get rid of the throwback designed to protect slave ownership. No part of the Constitution has failed more, he argues, citing the 1824,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
electoral college • Election 2008

India Elects First Female Prez

Patil to take office amidst scandals

Jul 21, 07 3:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - India elected its first woman to the largely ceremonial office of president today, in a landslide vote among parliament and state politicians. Pratibha Patil's supporters hail her victory as a breakthrough for women's rights in the country, while critics assert her reputation is already marred by a slew of personal... More »

MORE ABOUT:
presidency • electoral college • women's rights • domestic violence • Pratibha Patil

1 - 20 of 21 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


from our news partners

Associated PressAssociated Press