The End of Presidential Elections · 26 March, 10:00 AM

Yesterday, Colorado House Bill 1299 passed a state Senate committee, with scant notice by the press. Apparently the Ward Churchill circus being back in town has commanded attention away from important things.

A lot of the discussion around this bill focuses on the “will of the founders”, which is a pretty empty argument to me. The important thing to me is what it’ll do to the country. As it stands, if this bill passes, and if similar bills pass in a few other states, a vote for President in Colorado will be basically meaningless.

I’m a little distressed to find that both my state Legislators signed on as sponsors of the bill. As I wrote to Peter Groff, this is an incredibly short-sighted measure to address some lingering bitterness over the 2000 election. My guess is that as soon as this ridiculous interstate compact passes, Presidential candidates will happily begin ignoring Colorado completely – a big change from being a battleground state in 2008.

— Gordon Weakliem

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Comment

  1. Maryland passed this last year, and before it passed, I called my state senator and asked what the reaction state-wide would be the first time the popular vote went to a Republican (nationwide), while traditionally Democratic Maryland went for the Democrat by a wide margin… and the state’s electoral votes went to the Republican.

    I think I heard crickets.

    — James Robertson · Mar 26, 11:09 AM · #

  2. Yeah, Colorado is a traditional Red state that’s turning purple, maybe trending to being blue. My guess is that within the next 20 years, there’s going to be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth over Colorado’s popular vote for a Democrat getting overridden. Won’t that be sweet irony?

    — Gordon Weakliem · Mar 31, 09:32 AM · #

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