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2016 Postmortem

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sarisataka

(21,666 posts)
Thu Dec 1, 2016, 05:05 PM Dec 2016

Seriously folks, [View all]

quit whining about the Electoral College.

The EC did not fall from the sky unnoticed. It's been sitting there in the Constitution since ratification. Four times previously it resulted in a wonky election, most recently 2004. What was done when Democrats took power in 2008 to change or eliminate the EC? Nothing.

The election strategy was not "Let's win the popular vote to show what the people want." It was the road to 270.

Charting a road to 270, Clinton sets out most efficient battleground path

Hillary Clinton doesn't appear all that interested in making scenic stops on her state-to-state quest to become president. The Democratic nominee is instead programming her GPS to take her on the quickest route to collect the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to win the White House.

With three months until Election Day, Clinton's campaign is focused on capturing the battleground states that have decided the most recent presidential elections, not so much on expanding the map.

Clinton's team doesn't rule out an effort at Arizona, a state with a booming population of Latino voters that polls find are loath to support Trump. And Georgia, a bastion of the Deep South, echoes recent population trends in other Southeastern states where Clinton is competing aggressively.

But neither is among the 11 battleground states that Clinton's television advertising plans and her travel schedule point to as her focus. Those states are the perennial top-tier targets Florida and Ohio, plus Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. President Barack Obama carried them all in 2008, and missed out on only North Carolina during his 2012 re-election campaign.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-clinton-campaign-road-to-270-20160806-story.html

Leadership was very aware of the EC and specifically geared the campaign to the EC. Eleven states were targeted as key to victory. We lost 4-7 overall and in the three 'key' states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania 0-3. The winning strategy failed. It is disingenuous to complain about the rules after losing when you based your plan on winning by the rules.

Is the EC fair and should it be changed? Debatable and probably. Maybe next time we have the chance to change how the EC works or eliminate it we will act.
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