Alexander Keyssar has written this op-ed in the Los Angeles Times of October 28. It is titled “Dump Winner-Take-All” and analyzes the proposed California Republican initiative to elect one presidential elector from each U.S. House district. Keyssar has written “The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the U.S.”, and is considered the primary expert among historians on the history of voting rights. He is at Harvard. Of course, he argues that if the Republican Party thinks electing one elector from each U.S. House district is good policy, that the national party should be working for this nationwide, not just in states in which the Republican Party would benefit.

The Florida Democratic Party is holding a state convention. On October 27, Mike Gravel became the only person seeking the Democratic presidential nomination who spoke at the Florida meeting. The other contenders stayed away because the Democratic National Committee asked all Democrats running for president not to campaign in Michigan and Florida until after February 5, 2008. All the other Democratic presidential candidates complied. Florida Democratic State Senate Leader Steve Geller thereupon withdrew his previous endorsement of John Edwards, and endorsed Gravel.

The U.S. District Court in Idaho has set oral arguments for Beck v Ysursa, the lawsuit filed by 72 Idaho Republican Party officers, legislators and activists to let the Idaho Republican Party close its primary. The hearing is on November 15. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news. The state will try to get the lawsuit thrown out, since the Idaho Republican Party itself is not a co-plaintiff.