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Friday, November 04, 2004
Famador: And the winner is?
By Joel Famador
I guess you know by now that the American people cannot directly elect their president. In this US presidential election, voters in every state choose their candidates, be it George W. Bush or John Kerry. The candidate that wins a state (there are 50 of them in the US) gets all the electoral votes from that state.
For example, in California, which has the biggest number of electoral votes and solid for Kerry, all the electoral votes go to the winner. It is winner-take-all. In the end, the candidate that gets at least a majority, like 270 electoral votes, wins the race.
Framers of the US Constitution who thought that their democracy in the 18th century had not matured enough to offer a direct vote created the US Electoral College. The people were generally misinformed and easily misled. Just like here, our good old banana rep, where the many citizens are too beholden to local interests, or easily duped by promises of deceitful politicians.
The US Electoral College is composed of electors that choose the president in every election. Each of the 50 states in the US will decide how the electors are chosen to the College. Usually, it is the political party that won in a certain state that chooses the electors. So in California, where Kerry is winning, the Democratic Party gets to choose the electors that would represent that state in the College. Ergo, Kerry, as the winner in that state, takes all of California.
In the US, a presidential candidate need not win the popular vote, as what happened in 2000, when Albert Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College to Bush. Thanks in part, to the US Supreme Court, which decided the electoral contest according to party lines. Judges appointed by US presidents coming from the Republican Party controlled the Court at the time. Nothing different from our style, right, Joe?
In the 2000 presidential election, Bush won Florida State by a squeaker – a little over 500 votes over Gore. Thus, lucky George got all of Florida’s electoral votes, and the US presidency, with the backing of the US Supreme Court.
This time, the US presidential race will be decided by three big states, namely, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida (again), where the candidates are running neck and neck. That explains why there are more than 10,000 lawyers hired by the two parties to watch over the polls. They don’t want to have another electoral fiasco in the deciding states.
But we all know that the candidate who’s got more money will win the race. After all, money can buy everything in an election, as what happens in this rep. So Bush has the edge because his Republican Party is supported by Big Business, unless that other George can match the Republican Party’s money. Of course, I`m talking of the billionaire George Soros, who raised about $50 million to be spent against Bush.
And the winner is…$$$$$$$.
(November 4, 2004 issue)
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