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This would solve a LOT of problems.

Owes $225,000 in credit card debt..

Jeez, could this guy get less competent?

Oh wait..yes he can..

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Thevail -

I hate to say this but Bill Nelson is really neither interesting nor important! :)

He is a celebrity Senator from Florida. He was an astronaut.

To me, this idea of abolishing the Electoral College is one of the worst things we could do right now. We do NOT need to be changing the Constitution just because people don't understand how the election process works and they're frustrated!!

But this is the kind of symptomatic pandering Nelson is terrific at! Makes him look like he really "gets" the people.

/eyeroll - I wish we could elect someone who could and would actually DO something in the Senate. But, Nelson is a Dem so I keep voting for him.

I do think that reorganizing the Primary process is an excellent idea!

I thought the same thing when I read that!!

WTF? Credit card debt as family financial planning? Yikes!!! It may work in the short term for families, but we really don't need MORE of that at the National level!!

Geez..that sucks..I HATE the entire idea of the electoral college as a group of discrete individuals who can essentially be "swayed".

We have the technology now to do a popular vote presidential election which I feel would really make the individual's vote actually count.

I keep hoping that if the individual's vote actually counted maybe more people would get up off the sofa and ..well..vote. Heck, inmy idealistic universe they might even..you know..care about the issues.

My glass is forever 3/4 full :)

Yeah. :)

I'm actually doing some reading and research on the founding and why the electoral college is in there, and how it works.

Nice, after 50 years I thought it may be time, eh? Hah!

The debate over the Constitution was FIERCE!! It is so interesting to see the Federalists (who wanted the Constitution adopted) and the Anti-Federalists (who wanted to stay with the Articles of Confederation & Amendments) go at it.

Did you know that they argued with "noble anonymity" by publishing articles in the newspapers? With nics???? Crazy, huh?

Hamilton, Madison and Jay were the Federalists and their writings are collected in The Federalist Papers. They're interesting, but a bit hard to read because they are actually part of a larger conversation.

George Mason, Richard Henry Lee and others were the Anti-Federalists and they wrote under various names (Cornelius, A Farmer, etc).

Much like the threads on here, they are often spurred by the comments of the opposition.

And so was the adoption of the Constitution. And the Bill of Rights.

In its simplest form The Constitution was the product of the Federalists who saw how vital it was for a central government to be able to levy taxes and deal with National defense. They saw "the country" as part of a global entity and created a new republican democracy to get there.

The Anti-Federalists remained focused on the revolutionaries who had just won the war of independence from England, and valued the individual and the strength of small states where the elected officials were known to, and part of, communities that would make sure that no elite group created a tyranny.

Thomas Jefferson came down squarely on both sides. :)

I love that.

These arguments and debates have been taking place since Day 1 -- and so they continue.

Honestly, it comforts me and sustains to me to know that the United States is so much stronger than any ONE idea or person!

I too am an optimist - and we probably get that way because of our national heritage!

I agree that this is not the right time to get distracted with eliminating the Electoral College, and that doing so now would be more an emotional reaction to the conflicted Democratic primary than anything else. I also agree that Nelson is a lightweight.

However, I think getting rid of the Electoral College is a long-overdue transformation. Its feasibility is a different matter, but I like it. I don't think the Electoral College makes sense any more.

And a resounding "yes" from me on rotating the order of the primaries. What makes Iowa & New Hampshire so special anyway?