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The prolonged Democratic primary race has fueled interest in reconsidering the voting system the U.S. uses for electing its president. KERA Commentator Lee Cullum considers one such proposal.
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Piece Description
The prolonged Democratic primary race has fueled interest in reconsidering the voting system the U.S. uses for electing its president. KERA Commentator Lee Cullum considers one such proposal.
Broadcast History
Ran 5/9/2008 during "Morning Edition" on KERA 90.1 FM.
Transcript
If there?s one thing this country needs this year it is a clear winner in the presidential election. Nerves are too raw, given the bank-and-housing crisis, plus the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to withstand another bout of uncertainty at the polls.
Everyone remembers the acrimony of 2000 when George W. Bush lost the popular balloting to Al Gore by a half million votes, yet won election in the Supreme Court after an astonishing display of statewide ineptitude in Florida. What is less well recalled, if many of us ever knew, is that Bush, even though ahead by 3 million in the nationwide popular vote in 2004, would have lost to John Kerry in the Electoral College if 60,000 people in Ohio had gone for Kerry instead of Bush. Once again we would have had a president who lost the popular vote but nonetheless landed in the White House.
What is relentlessly plain is that the candidates this...
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Timing and Cues
Suggested intro: A longer than expected Democratic primary race has raised interest in re-evaluating how the U.S. chooses its president. Commentator Lee Cullum knows of a proposal out there worth considering.
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