Electoral College

Illinois will award its presidential electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote -- but only if several other states follow suit. A bill signed into law Monday by Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich made Illinois the third state, after Maryland and New Jersey, ready to bypass the Electoral College in November. The three states, with a combined 46 electoral votes, won't act unless states totaling 270 electoral votes -- enough to elect a president -- sign on.

The governor of Maryland did Tuesday what the governor of California should have done last fall: sign a bill making his state the first to begin junking the electoral college. At least, chuck the electoral college as it has evolved. Circumvent the relic, render it moot and elect America's president by popular vote. That's the sure way to make California really relevant in presidential elections, to elevate it to being a participant rather than just a spectator.

California GOP strategists, seeking to reshape the electoral map in their party's favor, plan to begin raising money this week for a ballot initiative they hope will help a Republican win the White House in the 2008 election. As it is, Democrats assume they must win California's electoral votes to win the presidency. California supplies 55 electoral votes, more than 10% of the 538 nationally.

Democrats on Tuesday proposed putting on a 2008 ballot an initiative aimed at having California join the movement to elect presidents by popular vote. The initiative, if successful, also would head off a Republican effort to get some of California's electoral votes. GOP consultants have proposed a separate initiative to change California's winner-take-all system of awarding its 55 electoral votes.

An earlier primary may finally give California its proper clout in presidential elections. It would be foolish to undermine that power by forcing the state to do something in the general election that only two other states do: split the electoral vote among congressional districts. Yet that's exactly what some Republican lawyers and consultants are trying to do, and no wonder.

Re "California split," editorial, Aug. 25 Thank you for the sensible editorial critiquing the Republican attempt to split up California's electoral college votes. No doubt Republicans will accuse The Times of bias. But they would have it backward. To present a scheme as equitable that is so clearly designed to benefit one side -- that would be biased.

The chutzpah award for this summer has a runaway winner. It's the small team of Republican operatives trying to rig the 2008 presidential race. "Rig" means tilting the playing field to assure continued Republican occupancy of the White House -- perhaps for a very long time. The GOP would do this by ending the winner-take-all system of parceling out electoral college votes in Democratic-leaning California.

Re "Brazen GOP operatives seek to rig presidential race," column, Sept. 3 It's fun to watch as politicians and political pundits talk out of both sides of their mouths, still bemoaning the fact that George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000 despite losing the popular vote. Many people say we should eliminate the electoral college and settle the race democratically by the majority of the popular vote. Fast forward to this article.

Veteran GOP consultants said Monday that they were relaunching a drive to change the way California allocates its electoral college votes, aimed at helping the 2008 Republican presidential nominee capture the White House. Political strategist David Gilliard said he was taking over the ballot initiative campaign, along with strategist Ed Rollins and fundraiser Anne Dunsmore. Consultant Mike Arno will oversee the signature-gathering effort.