Dislike Being Ignored By Candidates In Presidential Election

It's Time to Eliminate Electorial College

Compared to say Ohio, Kentucky, Indian, Colorado and Missiouri, New York is a huge state when you look at our population. During the Primary, our own Senator Hillary Clinton was for a long part of it the odds on favorite to get the Democratic nomination. Most powerful politicians come to our state, specifically New York city to raise funds among the UBER RICH. Based on our population, it would seem natural that we would get quite a few opportunities to actually see the presidential candidates up close and personal. That is sadly not true...in fact, if you eliminate portions of Presidential Commercials aired on news channels such as CNN as a part of the 24 hour news cycle.

Now I was born in St. Louis, and spent a great deal of my life in the tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. While living in that area of the US of A, I have been fortunate enough to actually see four Presidents up close and personal. I've met and photographed President Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary and their daughter Chelsea. While helping campaign for Congressman John Hall back in 2006, I was fortunate to shake Bill Clinton's hand. I've photographed the first George Bush, was within eight feet of Ronald Reagan at his campaign train stop at Courthouse Square in Dayton, Ohio...went out of my way to be there, even though I've never voted Republican. My fourth chance meeting with our nation's President occurred in Louisville, Kentucky when I was not quite four years old when destiny saw me fortunate enough to shake the hand of John F. Kennedy.

The only President I've had a chance to see up close and personal but passed on is George W. Bush. I would not cross the street to shake his hand, despise everything about him...which is hard, as I was raised back in a time when you were taught you ALWAYS respected the President out of respect for the office.

I share all this for a simple reason. It illustrates the fundamental flaw in having the electorial college choose our next President. The system as it now exist's allows the candidates for the highest office in the land to ignore us, makes many of us feel taken for granted in the run up to the Presidency. Here in New York we are considered "solidly Blue" and the campaign is being waged in John McCain's once solidly red states, and a hand full of swing states that could go either way. In fact, every invite I have had to participate in MoveOn.org's weekend phone-athon's are events where we call voters IN OTHER STATES. Imagine attending a Get Out The Vote event where the purpose is to motivate people that don't even live in your own state! Why should Senator Obama or even John McCain put his dollars and time into making a huge appearance here? Maybe because we are voters? Maybe because hundreds of thousands of our citizens have made donations to their campaign? Maybe because we as American Citizens deserve that rare and covetted opportunity to see our President or future president?

For far to long now, the Electorial College process of electing our next President has unfairly allowed small states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and others to recieve the lions share of attention in the most important election the United States of America holds. Why should New Hampshire ALWAYS GET TO GO FIRST? Why was it fair for Michigan and Florida to be penalized because they wanted to move their primaries up so that their citizens for a change would get that major influx of attention from the candidates running for the highest office in America? If we are all honest, if the Democratic Party had not bitch slapped both Florida and Michigan for their actions, we could be seeing a completely different Presidential Campaign right now, would be watching Hillary Rodham Clinton hoping to be elected as our next President.

Obama is running as the candidate of change...perhaps as the next President of the United States, his first major change should be to take the necessary steps to eliminate the Electorial College. Sure, it will take a Constitutional Amendement, but the lay of the land suggests that he would have the votes necessary to get such and Amendment through the Congress, and I would place a bet right now that most states would embrace a leveling of the playing field that saw equality for ALL VOTERS and their voices. If we as a nation claim to live in the biggest most successful Democracy in the world, isn't it time that we elect our President though a truely free and open Democratic Election where the candidate with the most votes wins?