As the song goes: “What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours…..”
It was only a couple of weeks ago that we heard about the Democrats’ lock on the Electoral College.
This is from the New York Times two days before Election Day:
Hillary Clinton has a consistent and clear advantage in states worth at least 270 electoral votes, even if the race has undoubtedly tightened over the last few weeks. But even that understates the challenge facing Mr. Trump’s campaign: It’s not at all obvious where he has his best chance of breaking through, making it harder for him to concentrate his efforts over the last days of the campaign.
In other words, no one thought that Mr. Trump could win Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. There is even a story out there the Clinton team was popping champagne on the plane.
To be fair, I thought that Mrs. Clinton would win the Electoral College, too. In fact, I was pondering the idea of Mr. Trump winning the popular vote and Mrs. Clinton cracking the magic 270 by just a bit.
Today, we are hearing that Senator Barbara Boxer and a few others are hoping to eliminate the Electoral College.
Here is my message to Democrats still coping with the Election Night that none of them predicted.
First, Electoral College “locks” are good until someone cracks the lock, as Mr. Trump did in 2016. Remember when Virginia was solid red?
Second, the Democrats have much bigger problems than amending the way that we elect presidents. They can start by understanding why they lost the presidency, underperformed in U.S. Senate races and especially their disappearance from state legislatures. In other words, you can drive from the California border to the Atlantic coast and not drive through a district with a Democrat state rep or U.S. congressman.
Frankly, I called for a change in the Electoral College. I did not call for a direct vote but rather changing the “winner take all” to handing out votes based on the number of districts won by a presidential candidate. My idea would have given Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton a few more EV’s but not change the results.
The bottom line is that Democrats lost working-class voters. They should concentrate on winning them back. They could start by focusing on manufacturing rather than global warming.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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