Friday, November 17, 2000

Election Patter

On the way in to work today I heard two amusing tidbits:



New Mexico has flipped several times, and is now in the Gore camp. This could change again. In the event of a tie, New Mexico law requires a drawing of lots to decide the winner. A state position (governor? senator?) was a tie a few years ago, and was settled by each side drawing a hand of five-card stud poker. Not playing, just drawing. The winner had two pairs.



Advocates of the Electoral College say that direct voting would concentrate all political campaigning in the most populous areas, and that small states and outlying rural regions would never receive visits from the candidates. This might not be a bad thing, however, as it costs regions which are visited.



Portland, Oregon spent $400,000 to $600,000 on police security, traffic control and administration of the various Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates' visits this year. Since, according to Mayor Vera Katz, the city budgets around $200,000 for this sort of thing, the city is feeling the crunch. Portland has in the past tried to bill the campaigns for such expenses, but historically they don't pay.

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