California GOP Moves to Change States' Vote for President

August 22, 2007— -- Democrats in California are preparing for a major showdown with Republicans over an effort by GOP strategists to change the way Californians cast their votes for president. California is already the nation's biggest electoral prize with it's 55 electoral votes, but a Republican plan, if successful, would make the state even more important.

The plan, which is being backed by the Republican group Californians for Electoral Reform, would place an initiative on the state's June ballot that, if it passed, would award California's 55 electoral votes by Congressional district instead of the winner-take-all statewide popular vote system. It could mean that campaigning for San Diego or San Francisco might be as important as winning voters in a small state like Kansas.

Democrats say such a move would rig the 2008 election for the Republican presidential nominee since the GOP currently holds 19 of the state's 53 Congressional seats. A pickup of 19 electoral votes for the Republican presidential nominee is equivalent to winning a big state like Illinois, Pennsylvania or Ohio.

Republicans supporting the measure contend changing the state's system will create a better relationship between Californians' votes and voter outcome in the presidential contest.

Even though the push for the ballot initiative has yet to be endorsed by the state Republican Party, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger R-Calif., or any of the Republican presidential candidates, Democrats have quickly organized to formally voice opposition to the move.

As a counter to the Republican plan, California Democrats filed two separate initiatives on Tuesday with the California Attorney General's office which voice support for enacting a national popular vote system.

Among the state's politicians to join in the outcry are its two Democratic Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who have called the ballot initiative "the wrong reform at the wrong time in the wrong place."

Democrats say that even though the measure -- drafted by attorney Thomas Hiltachk and submitted to the state for review in July -- is still in infant form, they've learned many lessons from past elections like the 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis.