CA: Bill to Bolster Election Clout Gains

Bill to Bolster Election Clout Gains
The Assembly passes a measure to pledge the state's Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.
By Nancy Vogel, Times Staff Writer
May 31, 2006

SACRAMENTO — Seeking to force presidential candidates to pay attention to California's 15.5 million voters, state lawmakers on Tuesday jumped aboard a new effort that would award electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide.

As it is now, California grants its Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state. Practically speaking, that means Democrat-dominated California spends the fall presidential campaign on the sidelines as candidates focus on the states — mostly in the upper Midwest — that are truly up for grabs.

Under a bill passed by the Assembly, California would join an interstate compact in which states would agree to cast their electoral votes not for the winner in their jurisdictions but for the winner nationwide. Proponents say that would force candidates to broaden their reach to major population centers such as California.

(more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-vote31may31,1,7954080.story?coll=la-headlines-politics&ctrack=1&cset=true)

As a MA resident, I can't wait for this bill to come here too!

all of California's electoral college votes would have gone to Bush in 2000 and 2004, despite the fact that a clear majority of Californians didn't vote for him. Do they actually pay people to come up with this shit?