A Dream

crawjo · February-1st-2004, 06:32 PM

Last night I had this dream about the 2004 presidential election. On election night, I was watching the results come in, and Bush won the election. (Unfortunately, I have no idea who he was running against in this dream.) The crazy thing was, he won the election even though he got creamed in the popular vote. It was something like 52 percent for the Dem. to 45 percent for Bush...not close. But the electoral college worked out that Bush won in a cake-walk. For much of the dream I was trying to figure out how that would be possible...How could somebody lose by millions of votes in the popular election but win so easily in the electoral college. Finally I decided that it must have been that big states like New York and California all went heavily anti-Bush, while Bush squeaked by in all the other states.

Anyway, I was pondering this when there's a knock on my door. I answer it, and it's Mr. "non-elected president" himself. He walks into my apartment and asks if the election results are in. I said yes, you won the election easily even though more people voted for the other guy. He seemed really happy, that he had won the election. I tried to explain to him "Don't you see, man??? Nobody wants you to be president. You won by a fluke. Doesn't that bother you?" Then his eyes got that glazed over look that he sometimes gets, and he just smirked and walked out. The last thing I thought in the dream is "Oh, man, people hated him before...What are they going to think now??" That was the end of the dream.

As far as I can remember, this is the first dream I have ever had about the electoral college. May it also be my last.

tippy · February-1st-2004, 07:25 PM

>>(Unfortunately, I have no idea who he was running against in this dream.) <<

What a cop out.

Why do we still need the electoral college?

crawjo · February-1st-2004, 07:48 PM

We don't.

Dr Dave · February-1st-2004, 08:30 PM

Who cares. Janet Jackson is shaking her booty at Superbowl Halftime. Dick Cheney is President. The only thing that matters is winning. We're so totally doomed.

Monte Smith · February-2nd-2004, 12:34 PM

That dream could easily come true on each and every Presidential election so long as the nation is evenly split. The Democrats are stuffed in huge numbers into the coastal states, while the Republicans cover rangy swaths of the continent (and the electoral college map) in populations no greater than the buffalo. OK, maybe that overstates things. The difference in votes last time was only some 500,000 votes. Most people in the USA don't care who is President and a statistically even number of people in two groups demand that it be their guy.

patricia · February-2nd-2004, 12:56 PM

So, Monte. Are you saying that it doesn't matter who the President is? Are you saying that whoever he is, he's just an empty suit, that they wheel our, periodically, to read speechwriter's words, then be wheeled back to his ranch?? All hat, no cattle. Is that about it??
That would explain the last three years and change.

Monte Smith · February-2nd-2004, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by patricia
So, Monte. Are you saying that it doesn't matter who the President is?

No, I am merely saying a good chunk of people think so. Which is a fact if you look at voter turn out. Rest assured, the wife and I vote at every opportunity.