By Taylor Paraboschi
Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis proposed an end-around to the Electoral College system during a talk Monday afternoon at the Monroe Lecture Center.
With the current electoral system, the candidates' campaign rotation reaches only a few, "key power-vote" states, neglecting the issues of the smaller or more electorally rigid states, Dukakis said. By eliminating the current system and electing the president solely on the popular vote, the candidates would be "given the incentive to pay attention to the grassroots organizations, because now every vote will count."
One way Dukakis proposed eliminating the Electoral College was through the National Popular Vote Campaign, a non-profit organization that aims to "study, analyze and educate the public regarding its proposal to implement a nationwide popular election of the president of the United States."
He stressed that if the National Popular Vote Campaign could get enough states to back their proposal, enough to equal 270 votes, then the Electoral College system would be rendered obsolete. So far the bill has been enacted in four states: New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois and Hawaii, giving the group 50 of the 270 votes needed to pass.
The National Popular Vote Campaign reinforces what Dukakis said Monday about presidential candidates being select on where they campaign, and spend their time and resources. According to the campaign's Web site, under the current system "candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize or pay attention to the concerns of states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind." The group's Web site adds that because of this selective campaigning, the needs of two-thirds of the population are ignored by presidential candidates.
When asked about this years election, Dukakis said that President-elect Barack Obama understood the importance of reaching out to as many people as he could, and of the importance of "organizing at the grassroots level."
"He has a different world view than others; none of this 'my way or the highway stuff,'" Dukakis said when speaking about Obama. He praised Obama for his grass-roots organization, which he created in 18 battleground states.
Dukakis also spoke about his beliefs that the campaigns should be shortened in time to make them more "coherent, comprehensive and fair," and the primaries should be condensed into "six regional primaries; two in February, two in March and two in April." Dukakis said each region of the country would rotate its spot so as no area of the country would get undue preference every election cycle, as Iowa and New Hampshire do now, since they are the first two states to hold nomating contests for the major parties.
He said that by shortening campaign time and primaries, the election would become more sensible and there would be no excuses for queue jumping.
"Maybe if i had campaigned here in 1988 I would have won," Dukakis joked as he made light of his failed 1988 presidential campaign.
Dukakis also apologized to the audience for his failed presidential campaign, saying if he had "beaten old man Bush, you never would have heard the kid, and we wouldn't be in this mess."
He finished by stressing that in order for this presidency to be effective, the new administration and Congress need to work together, and that the Democrats have no excuses to hold back on their beliefs anymore: they have majorities in all branches of government.
