particularly when it comes to the electoral college.or of the electoral college used to be, will it give small states a certain amount of power. when was the last time you saw a presidential campaign in wyoming or vermont or delaware? we have presidential elections in four or five states, ohio, florida, a few other states in the midwest and that's it. all of the rest of the states are completely irrelevant, including the small states. >> no real conceivable way in which that will change? >> i think the electoral college, there is a conceive able way it will change. it's hard to justify this crazy system where people in new york and california and texas are irrelevant throughout all presidential campaigns except as fundraising sources, just the way contemporary american politics is, new york, california, are overwhelmingly democratic states, texas is a republican state. the states are ignored. and there are millions and millions of voters in these states who get no attention and it really does affect our politics, the substance of our po

they vote for the electors in the electoral college whose names they don't even know. it's absurd. but also, it was stolen from him in florida-- from tallahassee in all kinds of ways with kathleen harris and jeb bush. >> hinojosa: but you got 90,000 votes in florida, right? >> yeah. >> hinojosa: so if those 90,000 votes had gone for gore, then he would have won the state of florida. >> that's not the way to look at it. the way to look at it is how did i affect gore before the election? did i push him to take more progressive stands which got him up in the polls, where he actually got more votes than whatever went to the green party? but you see, even the most sophisticated political analyst never looked at the preelection day dynamics. there have been some social scientist studies who have concluded that i actually, by pushing him to do what lieberman didn't want him to do... >> hinojosa: mm-hmm. >> ...by challenging the drug, oil, you know, insurance companies in speeches-- remember "the people, not the powerful," that was his slogan-- that he got more votes than if i wasn't even

eliminating the electoral college. amounts included a ban on corporate donations in elections. a six year president hal term with no re-election. a fat tax on oun healthy food, an upper age limit on elected officials, a ban on discrimination of left-handed people. i wasn't aware that there was a big problem. and my personal favorite was limit zakaria to two stupid commen comments a month. to dig deeper on this and whether or not it's really feasible, jeffrey toobin, cnn senior legal analyst. jeff, we're unusual as a country, we're a very young country, but we have a very old constitution. and political system about if you position about it. our constitution, our lil system is older than every european cup. >> we have the oldest written constitution of any democracy in the world. and it's only been amended 27 times. and it stood us in very good said, but i think it is not sack crow sang and it is a good idea to think about what shouldn't have been done in the first place and how you can improve it p aboutidea to think a

>> if voters do not actually have a say in the electoral college vote, and it does not really matter, but there are 4.6 million live stateside mostly in florida. for-swing states like arizona, colorado, mexico, where the latino vote is incredibly important, so that is why you see him here instead of in south carolina. it is a really important swing vote. it has actually swung much more to democrats here in the last election, 60% of latino voters went for democrats because a very anti-immigration stance is that republicans have taken of late. >> we have seven republicans last night, six men, one woman. oddly enough, all wearing black or dark blue. anything in that debate that you saw surprise you? >> plenty surprise me. i would have said the former governor of minnesota was my favorite dark horse. he is a conservative. he is a social conservative. he has the right looks, the right religion. the right economic background, and yet, last night, he insulted romeny the day before -- not insult him, but took him to task very harshly on his universal health care and when asked about it in the

the electoral college, for example, is highly undemocratic, allowing for the possibility that someoneet elected as president even if he or she had a smaller share of the total national vote than his opponent. the structure of the senate is even more undemocratic with wisconsin's 6 million inhabitants getting the same representation in the senate as california's 36 million people. that's not exactly one man, one vote. we are surely the only modern nation that could be paralyzed as we were in 2000 over an election dispute because we lack a simple national electoral system. so we could use the ideas of social media that were actually invented in this country to suggest a set of amendments to modernize the constitution for the 21st century. such a plan is not unheard of in american history. after all, the delegates in philadelphia in 1787 initially meant not to create the constitution as we now know it, but instead to revise the existing document, the articles of confederation. but the delegates saw a disconnect between the document that currently governed them and the needs of the nation

harrison in the electoral vote also grover won the popular vote in 1888 but she lost in the electoral college. we will never see that again. after two and as they were leaving the white house, in 1889 apparently francis told the chief steward just keep everything the way it is. we will be back in four years and sure enough, in 1892, cleveland did win the white house back, and he and frances and now the youngest daughter, baby ruth lived in to the white house. there have been one change while they were gone. benjamin harrison, while the clevelands were, while they were in the white house and cleveland's were away the changeover from gas to electric and i think they did this some of the cleveland appliances would work. [laughter] buddy to 92 she wins the election and he takes the oath of office in march the inauguration in march of that time and was not a good time to become president and this for the panic of 1893 comes in. nine days before grover took office the railroad had gone bankrupt and the successful rewritten the u.s. just the year before they build a brand new terminal in philadelphi

you don't have to be a political science major or an academic dome or an electoral college expert toused a government aircraft to go do something that had nothing to do with the people's business. it's one of those things that you don't have to explain it. it's just sitting there and it's obvious. i don't think it kills his presidential chances. it certainly not watergate. but i think it's a political problem for him. and i suspect maybe before it's all over he might be -- i don't know and i'm not -- >> apologizing or paying back -- >> he might be writing a little check. >> so far, no sign of it, but we'll see. he certainly probably won't be hopping on another helicopter anytime soon. >> i think this is the last time he does this for a baseball game. >> thanks so much for being with us. >>> ahead, president obama meets with house republicans about overhauling medicare. what it means for you. that's next. [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil. at 190 m

the electoral vote, although grover actually won the popular vote in 1888, but he lost in the electoral college. we'll never see that again. [laughter] and as they were leaving the white house in 1889, apparently, francis told the chief steward there, just keep everything the way it is, we'll be back in four years. and sure enough in 1892, cleveland did win the white house back. and he and francis and now their youngest daughter, baby ruth, moved into the white house. there had been one change while they were gone. benjamin harrison, while the clevelands were, while they were in the white house and the clevelands were away, they changed over from gas to electric, and i think they did this so none of the clevelands' appliances would work. [laughter] so in 1892 grover wins the election, and he takes the oath of office in march, the inaugurations were in march at that time. and it was not a good time to become president. and this is where the panic of 1893 comes in the. just nine days before grover took office, the reading railroad had gone bankrupt. the reading had been one of the most successful

the only poll that matter for any president is the one with the electoral college, 270.ection, you look at iowa, you look at virginia, north carolina, he won by 14,000 votes, indiana he won by 1%, it is a reality that an issue like this could tip -- could shift a number of votes. so he's making a political calculation, there is no doubt. >> he's also assuming the gay and lesbian community and others that support gay marriage will be with him no matter what when they see who the republican nominee is. i would surprised, and you correct me if i'm wrong, if he's re-ele re-elected, shortly there after he comes out in favor of gay marriage when he doesn't have to worry about some of the considerations. >> i'm not so sure that your original premise is correct. >> which original premise. >> about the gays and lesbians are going to be with him because of who the republicans are going to nominate. they may not vote for the republican, but they may just stay home. they may start voting with governor or senator and not vote for president because as we saw yesterday or in sunday's p

can you give me a full explanation of that and why the electoral college is allowed to exist? can't an independent like myself but in the primaries? i don't care of it takes people going into the street. what can we do to do this. we want to be able to vote in the primaries. the politicians would go to the whistle stops. take the money out of politics and make it fair again. guest: where do we start? but callers frustrations are shared by many viewers out there. in connecticut, for example, we have seen independent voters played a pretty significant role in congressional elections in recent decades even if they don't have the final say primary. we all know what happened to joe lieberman back in 2006 when he was bounced from the democratic ticket in the primary and the came back as an independent and one. won. there is a share of voters to make or break a general election for the party. one of the reforms adding to the laboratory experiment in california is a new ballot rule that essentially says that anyone can vote in the primary election but the top two finishers will advanc

college voters mostly don't. that's participating in the electoral process in a recent statement to the highlighted this disparity and said i would rather have no bill than with a rigid photo identification provision that does little to protect fraud and excludes legally registered voters ballots from. well said sir it's nice to hear from a republican who still actually believes in democracy the bad rick perry theory of the glenn beck show yesterday the cowboy governor of texas is considering a run for the white house some from there was asked by back if the government can create jobs and he had this response to what. can the government actually create jobs or. actually what a government can do you can create an environment where those jobs can be created government doesn't create any jobs. they can actually run jobs that way yes so if the government doesn't create any jobs then who's employing the mailman around the country and the teachers and the police officers and the firefighters and the garbage man in the food safety inspectors and our troops in the military and show i could go on who is employed you gover

he is chosen by electorates in the electro college. founders had been used to be able to determine that those who are directly elected, to have faith in their hands. this involves the lives of our men and women sent to a theater where they might be put in jeopardy in one way or another. this is a very callous important moment. if the court is willing to entertain it. what we hold in this lawsuit is that this relates solely to congress. the founders were very careful in describing in article one, section 8, the whole range of responsibilities that congress has. one of them is the power to be able to take us into war.l -- -- war. we hope the court will decide to take the matter. court iny did the 1999 will get you had no standing in kosovo? guest: we are saying that anything executive engages in with congress is a political question. this goes to the heart of something that is written in the constitution. we are trying to get a decision as to whether or not the federal courts believe that when the founders put that language into the cons

he is chosen by electorates in the electro college. founders had been used to be able to determine that those who are directly elected, to have faith in their hands. this involves the lives of our men and women sent to a theater where they might be put in jeopardy in one way or another. this is a very callous important moment. if the court is willing to entertain it. what we hold in this lawsuit is that this relates solely to congress. the founders were very careful in describing in article one, section 8, the whole range of responsibilities that congress has. one of them is the power to be able to take us into war.l -- -- war. we hope the court will decide to take the matter. court iny did the 1999 will get you had no standing in kosovo? guest: we are saying that anything executive engages in with congress is a political question. this goes to the heart of something that is written in the constitution. we are trying to get a decision as to whether or not the federal courts believe that when the founders put that language into the cons

he is chosen by electorates in the electro college. founders had been used to be able to determine that those who are directly elected, to have faith in their hands. this involves the lives of our men and women sent to a theater where they might be put in jeopardy in one way or another. this is a very callous important moment. if the court is willing to entertain it. what we hold in this lawsuit is that this relates solely to congress. the founders were very careful in describing in article one, section 8, the whole range of responsibilities that congress has. one of them is the power to be able to take us into war.l -- -- war. we hope the court will decide to take the matter. court iny did the 1999 will get you had no standing in kosovo? guest: we are saying that anything executive engages in with congress is a political question. this goes to the heart of something that is written in the constitution. we are trying to get a decision as to whether or not the federal courts believe that when the founders put that language into the cons