A Taste of ’08 in Fight to Split Electoral Votes
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
New York Times
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 — Ballot measures in California have long been proxies for local politicians’ hopes and dreams — just ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rode a recall petition to the Statehouse.
But now a statewide initiative has become the unusual battleground for two previously entangled New York politicians whose eyes are fixed firmly on the White House.
Rudy versus Hillary, the West Coast edition — it’s on.
Supporters of Rudolph W. Giuliani and of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton are embroiled in their first major affray of the political season over a ballot initiative on presidential electoral votes some 2,500 miles from the pancake houses of Skaneateles, N.Y., and the fire stations of Queens.
The fight could be a telling prelude to the 2008 presidential contest, with the political instincts and strategies long employed by Mr. Giuliani, a Republican, and Mrs. Clinton, a Democrat, cast in sharp relief. The battle has reflected their political set-to in 2000, when they squared off briefly over a United States Senate seat in New York, and could foreshadow how the game will be played should they become their parties’ nominees.
The proposed measure here would ask voters to apportion electoral votes by Congressional district, potentially giving the Republican nominee in 2008 some 20 of the state’s 55 votes — the rough equivalent of winning Illinois or Pennsylvania — in this otherwise reliably Democratic state.
Such a change could amount to a seismic shift in the nation’s electoral dynamics, potentially springboarding a Republican into the White House, and the possibility has animated hopeful Republicans and fearful Democrats.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 — Ballot measures in California have long been proxies for local politicians’ hopes and dreams — just ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rode a recall petition to the Statehouse.
But now a statewide initiative has become the unusual battleground for two previously entangled New York politicians whose eyes are fixed firmly on the White House.
Rudy versus Hillary, the West Coast edition — it’s on.
Supporters of Rudolph W. Giuliani and of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton are embroiled in their first major affray of the political season over a ballot initiative on presidential electoral votes some 2,500 miles from the pancake houses of Skaneateles, N.Y., and the fire stations of Queens.
The fight could be a telling prelude to the 2008 presidential contest, with the political instincts and strategies long employed by Mr. Giuliani, a Republican, and Mrs. Clinton, a Democrat, cast in sharp relief. The battle has reflected their political set-to in 2000, when they squared off briefly over a United States Senate seat in New York, and could foreshadow how the game will be played should they become their parties’ nominees.
The proposed measure here would ask voters to apportion electoral votes by Congressional district, potentially giving the Republican nominee in 2008 some 20 of the state’s 55 votes — the rough equivalent of winning Illinois or Pennsylvania — in this otherwise reliably Democratic state.
Such a change could amount to a seismic shift in the nation’s electoral dynamics, potentially springboarding a Republican into the White House, and the possibility has animated hopeful Republicans and fearful Democrats.
(Continued here.)
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