College Try

Will changing the how we elect presidents be the latest California trend?

By Rhodes Cook
OpinionJournal.com

It would not be surprising if the most important single primary in 2008 takes place in California. But don't look for it to be the presidential primary on Super-Duper Tuesday Feb. 5. Look instead to the state primary on June 3, up to now a low-profile event that could become fraught with significance if some California Republicans succeed in getting a highly controversial proposition on the ballot.

If successful, it would ensure the party's nominee 20 or so electoral votes from California next fall, even if the GOP candidate loses the state for the fifth straight election. And if the 2008 election is as close as the last two have been, that could be enough to keep the White House in Republican hands.

The Democrats in Raleigh, with the support of the DNC, wanted to change NC to a district plan in awarding electoral votes, but when the effort started in CA among the Republicans to go to a district plan, the DNC told the NC Democrats to shelve their plan because the DNC didn't want to look hypocritical in supporting NC's plan and strongly opposing CA's plan.