Subject: What happens if there's a tie in the electoral college [View All]

[Bucky]

The race could easily end up 269-269. You get that this way:

1. In the south, everything south of Virginia & Kentucky goes to Bush (yes, even Florida--gasp!)

2. Everything north of the Potomac, including New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, goes to Kerry.

3. West of the Mighty Miss, only New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Iowa, and Minnesota go Kerry. Boxy states: Bush.

4. In the Great Lakes region, Illinois, Wisconsin, & Michigan go Kerry.

5. Indiana and Ohio go for Bush.

6. But Kerry wins in West Virginia.

Wallah! A tied Electoral College!

According to the Constitution, in that case the House of Representatives picks the president of the top three vote getters in the EC (but there's only two). The trick is, each state's delegaation gets to cast only one vote. Straight up states' rights, kids. Since the GOP tends to do better in small states, they'd win under the current Congress by a vote of 30 to 15.

Then the Senate would vote for the Vice President. If we can retake the Senate 51-49, (and assuming Pat Leahy doesn't jump the aisle to vote for his good buddy Dick Cheney), you would have a Bush-Edwards administration. But the chances of us winning two net seats in the Senate are pretty slim.

Bottom line, the Constitution could fuck our side for the second time in as many elections.