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Dear Friends,
Well, this’ll be a lonely week for Ed on the Fallon Forum. Even his friends think he’s wrong. Sigh. Tonight, Monday, Charles Goldman argues that we need to abolish the electoral college. Ed feels we ought to keep it.
Charles: “The Electoral College is an archaic remnant of a Constitution written while the South still held slaves. It has appointed at least three presidents who lost the popular vote. It makes it almost impossible for there to be a viable third party candidate. It makes Iowans’ votes essentially irrelevant.”
Ed: “Charles is wrong.”
Tuesday, we’ll dig into the controversy over concerns about “the organic elite’s” support for genetically engineered (GE) crops. Earlier this year, Ronnie Cummings with Organic Consumers Association wrote, “Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm . . . have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops. {They} are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for ‘coexistence’ with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.”
Wednesday, we’ll talk about the deepening dissatisfaction over President Obama’s debt ceiling “compromise,” which some prefer to call a “sell-out.” Drake University’s Ismael Hossein-Zadeh joins us for that discussion.
Thursday, Iowa City blogger John Deeth tangles with Ed over the latter’s call for independents and Democrats to attend the Republican Caucuses. Ed feels it’s every Iowan’s duty to suck it up and help the Republican Party nominate a candidate who’s not a total whack job. John feels Ed and his ilk are gaming the system.
So, tune in at 98.3 WOW-FM and online. You can download the Fallon Forum as a podcast, too. Thanks!
Ed
Blog For Iowa 
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
When the bill is enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes– enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538), all the electoral votes from the enacting states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC.
The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for president. Historically, virtually all of the major changes in the method of electing the President, including ending the requirement that only men who owned substantial property could vote and 48 current state-by-state winner-take-all laws, have come about by state legislative action.
A survey of 800 Iowa voters showed 75% overall support for a national popular vote for President. The question was “How do you think we should elect the President when we vote in the November general election: should it be the candidate who gets the most votes in all 50 states, or the current electoral college system?
By political affiliation, support for a national popular vote for President was 82% among Democrats, 63% among Republicans, and 77% among others.
By age, support was 76% among 18-29 year olds, 65% among 30-45 year olds, 76% among 46-65 year olds, and 80% for those older than 65.
By gender, support was 82% among women and 67% among men.
The bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers in 21 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in AR, CT, DE, DC, ME, MI, NV, NM, NY, NC, and OR, and both houses in CA, CO, HI, IL, NJ, MD, MA ,RI, VT, and WA . The bill has been enacted by DC, HI, IL,CA, NJ, MD, MA, VT, and WA. These 9 jurisdictions possess 132 electoral votes– 49% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
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