Zombie assault on the Electoral College

Halloween is hard upon us, so perhaps it’s only fitting that something once believed dead is reported to have risen from the grave.  Unfortunately, the zombie in question is nothing so fragrant as a rotting corpse– it’s the ballot initiative to split California’s electoral college votes.

You may remember this initiative flaming out a few weeks ago.  It was an attempt to change the way the state awards its electoral votes in presidential elections.  Instead of winner-take-all, electoral votes would be awarded according to the popular vote in each congressional district.  This, of course, would only benefit whoever the Republican candidate is, since a Republican doesn’t stand a chance of winning California, but might well win the Great State of the Inland Empire, and the Grand Duchy of Orange County.  So, it was no surprise that this initiative was being funded by a Rudy Giuliani supporter.  Who’s funding the resurrected version, its current promoters won’t say, but they will say that money isn’t going to be a problem.  Whether that’s true or a bluff is impossible to say at the moment.

We do know who’s spearheading the initiative drive now.  According to the Sacramento Bee, it’s Dave Gilliard and Anne Dunsmore, two Republican operatives who helped bring about the recall election that gave us the Age of Schwarzenegger.  Most observers still dismiss the initiative as little more than a GOP attempt to force Democrats spend money fighting it, exhausting cash reserves and donors.  Maybe… but that’s what some people said about the recall at the beginning.

(On the other hand, unlike the recall, the zombie initiative clearly violates the U.S. Constitution, which says that only state legislatures can determine how electoral college votes are awarded.  Which means that even if enough money is spent to gather all the signatures necessary to get the initiative on the ballot, and even more is spent to get it passed, the real money will be spent on lawyers after the election.)

Tags: Anne Dunsmore, ballot initiative, Constitution, Dave Gilliard, Democrats, elections, electoral college, recall, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, zombies