A Republican-backed plan to change the way certain states allocate electoral votes has fizzled as quickly as it sprung onto the national consciousness. The slate of upcoming 2014 governor’s races is a major reason why that happened. Last month, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus voiced some support for the effort to award electoral votes in a handful of battleground states by congressional district. Since many of those congressional districts lean Republican, the plan, if passed in several swing states, would give future GOP presidential nominees a leg up. But for the Republican governors in these states, endorsing the idea — which Democrats can easily cast as a partisan power grab — would carry immense political risk on the eve of reelection campaigns that already promise to be challenging. So, the governors have mostly distanced themselves from such proposals.
A spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this week that he is not pursuing any changes to the electoral college. Kasich, whose numbers have been on the mend, remains vulnerable to a Democratic challenge.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), whose decision to make the Wolverine State a “right-to-work” state has already enraged the political left, said: ”I don’t think this is an appropriate time” for the proposed electoral vote overhaul. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) sounded awfully wary of the idea in an interview with Politico published this week, even as he didn’t take it completely off the table. “I just said I hadn’t ruled it out. I’m not embracing it because it’s a double-edged sword,” he said. Walker, like Snyder and Kasich, could face a tough reelection campaign next year.
A leading Republican in Florida, where GOP Gov. Rick Scott (R) is already on the ropes, said: “I don’t think we need to change the rules of the game, I think we need to get better.” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who is term-limited but may have his eye on higher office down the road, called it a “bad idea.”
Full Article: Why the GOP’s electoral vote gambit won’t work.