In the American Political
System, the true winner of the Presidential Race
is not determined by simply adding up the vote
totals from each of the 50 states plus the
District of Columbia. No, each state and D.C.
hold its own presidential election and the
winner of each of those separate elections (all
held on the same day of course, the first
Tuesday following the first Monday in November
of a Presidential Election year), takes all of
what are called "Electoral Votes" in each state
and district. Main and Nebraska do it
differently where a portion of the electoral
votes goes to the presidential candidate who
wins each congressional district. Nationwide, a
candidate needs to win a total, from among the
states, of at least 270 electoral votes in order
to win the election to be the next President of
the United States.

The The Electoral College, as
the whole group of Electors nationwide is
called, is made up of 538 members from the 50
states and the District of Columbia. When
citizens vote for the presidential candidate of
their choice, in reality they are really voting
for a person called an "Elector" who is chosen
by the candidates' campaign organizations to
represent their candidate. For example, in
Washington State, which has a total of eleven
Electors, there are eleven people representing
the Republican candidate, John McCain, and
another eleven representing the Democratic
candidate, Barack Obama. If a majority (or even
a plurality-but that's another story) of the
state's voters choose Obama, then all eleven of
Obama's chosen representatives become that
state's official Electors. So, what happens
then? On the first Monday following the second
Wednesday in December, the Electors meet in each
state (not as a national group, but as
individual state groups), and formally cast the
"real" votes for President and Vice-President.
The official Elector's votes are then sent to
the House of Representatives where the President
of the Senate (usually the incumbent
Vice-President), officially reads the results
and declares the winner.

The rules governing the
Electoral College are found in the United States
Constitution in Article 2, Section 1, and in the
12th Amendment. Electors meet on the first
Monday following the second Wednesday in
December , which, in 2008, is December 15. These
dates are set by law in the US Code, at 3 USC
7.

The updated page is at: http://www.historyguy.com/politics/burner_darcy.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Jim McDermott says he’s no Grinch, even though he voted against Christmas.

The veteran Seattle Democrat voted against a House resolution recognizing the importance of Christmas, but called it a protest against President Bush’s veto of a children’s health care bill.

"While the Republicans are passing a resolution celebrating Christmas, the president was vetoing health care for children. There’s a little bit of irony going on around here," McDermott said today.

Earlier this year, McDermott voted in favor of resolutions honoring Ramadan and Diwali. Ramadan is an Islamic holiday, while Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and others.

"There’s 10,000 kids in my state that won’t have a health care plan…Read the Rest of the Story

Dave Ross- (b. April 5, 1952 in Yorktown, New York)

Dave Ross is a well-known radio talk show host at Seattle’s KIRO-AM 710, since 1987. He ran for Washington’s 8th District Congressional seat in the 2004 election, losing to incumbent republican Dave Reichert.

Education:

–Graduate of Cornell University

Accomplishments:

–Received the 2001 and and 2005 Edward R. Murrow Award for Commentary.

Affiliations:

 

–Member of the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society, where he regularly appears in performances at the Seattle Center.

Career:

– 1974-1978 –reporter at WSB in Atlanta, Georgia.

–1978-Present– KIRO radio 710 News anchor and talk show host

Dave Ross

Family

Patti Ross –Wife Children two daughters

Political Opponents

Dave Reichert (2004 Congressional Election) Reichert (R): 173,298 votes (51.5003%) Ross (D): 157,148 votes (46.7009%) Spencer Garrett (L): 6,053 votes (1.7988%) Alex Alben-(2004 Congressional Primary Election)–Democratic Primary Opponent Heidi Behrens-Benedict (2004 Congressional Primary Election)––Democratic Primary Opponent

Links and Resources on Dave Ross

Dave Ross –personal website Dave Ross Commentary– Washington Secretary of State’s website for the 2004 election Dave Ross–Wikipedia article

historyguy.email@gmail.com
Copyright © 1998-2007 Roger A. Lee and History Guy Media

Darcy Burner announced her candidacy to unseat first-term U.S. Representative Dave Reichert in the 8th District in Washington in September of 2005. She lost the 2006 general election to Dave Reichert, but is attempting to win the Democratic nomination for another attempt at Reichert’s seat in the 2008 election.

Biographical Statement from Burner Campaign Website:

"Darcy’s roots in Washington stretch back to her childhood, when she spent part of every summer in Thurston and Lewis counties visiting her uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandmother. These summers were complemented by school years in military towns in Alaska, Montana, and Nebraska.

Darcy comes from a hard working family. Her dad spent a career in the Air Force and after his retirement worked as a public school teacher. Her oldest brother is a janitor in Olympia. Her other brother serves in the Army’s 101st Airborne and has served one tour of duty in Iraq. Her sister just got her nursing degree. And her youngest brother delivers beer for the Miller Brewing Company.

Darcy worked hard in school, got a National Merit Scholarship and went to Harvard. She majored in computer science and economics. She put herself through school by working for high-tech firms in the Boston area.

Darcy met her husband, Mike Burner, while at college. They wed in 1993.

After Darcy got her degree, she and Mike moved to California to work in the high tech sector. She focused on changing companies’ products and services to better respond to the customers’ real problems.

In the summer of 1998, Mike was offered a job at Microsoft. Darcy and he moved to Washington.

Darcy went to work for Microsoft in 2000 and became the lead manager for an initiative to change the way software was built. It was very successful and enhanced Darcy’s reputation as a successful businesswoman.

Eager to start a family, Darcy became pregnant and took maternity leave from Microsoft. Henry Burner was born in January of 2003.

Darcy has been active in her community and in state politics. She left Microsoft to spend the time necessary to be elected to the United States Congress in the 8th District."

Burner lost the election to Reichert, but is running again for the 2008 election. State Sen. Rodney Tom, is challenging Darcy Burner in the Democratic Primary for the 8th Congressional District seat in 2008.

As a part of her race for Congress in 2007, Burner highlighted Reichert’s reliance on President Bush for campaign fund-raising by holding a virtual town hall to protest Bush’s visit. See Burner to stage "virtual" town hall to counter Bush visit at the Seattle PI website.

Education:

–Graduate of Harvard

Career:

–1991-1992 University of California, Berkeley developer, trainer, system administrator

–1993-1995 CenterLine Software developer, trainer, and technical sales engineer

–1995-1997 Lotus Development developer

–1997-1999 Asymetrix technical sales engineer, product manager

–2000-2004 Microsoft Lead Product Manager for Microsoft .NET

Family

Mike Burner –Husband (m. 1993) Children Henry (b. 2003)

Political Opponents

Dave Reichert (2006 Congressional Election) Primary Vote Results (Sept. 2006) Burner——–54,776 votes Reichert——52, 598 votes

Links and Resources on Darcy Burner

<> Burner for Congress Website–The Candidate’s political website. 8th Congressional District Information–From Ourcongress website (pro-Democrat site) Washington Secretary of State’s website for the 2006 election Darcy Burner–Wikipedia article

historyguy.email@gmail.com
Date Last Modified: 09/03/2007
Copyright © 1998-2007 Roger A. Lee and History Guy Media