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2004
Swing States
The number and names of the specific states
that could swing the election in 2004 are constantly changing day to
day and source to source, a trend often found during presidential
elections. The importance of relating the possible swing states in any
election to the Electoral College reform movement is this: a
candidate’s attention to any particular state ultimately depends
on that state’s competitive nature.
There exists an argument that the Electoral
College favors small states because they typically have a large
amount of electoral votes in comparison to their population.
There is also an argument that the Electoral College favors
large states because, despite their higher populations, the voters
in larger states have an increased potential to affect the election
because they have more electoral votes to allocate.
However, in fact it is the middle ground
states, often called swing states or battleground states, that have
the largest overall affect and potential for affect in presidential
elections. Because of
their close polling numbers, candidates, especially near the vital
last leg of their campaigns, spend an amazing amount of time and
money in these swing states trying to sway voters to their side.
As nice as it must be for the citizens of those
middle ground states, they have the effect of
changing the campaigns from ones that reach out to the entire
country to campaigns that reach out to a few certain states (in this
election, anywhere from10 to 20 out of 50).
The decided states - small, middle and large - are left in
the dust with an assumption that the case is settled in each of
those states and that there is no need to spend anymore time or
money showing extra attention to them.
The candidates are not to blame for this,
however, because it is what they have to do to win the election and
lead their country. Rather,
it is the Electoral College system that is to blame, for creating
such a position for presidential candidates and therefore diverting
attention from the majority of the states in the union, which will
be no less under the leadership of the president-elect, and have no
less of a claim to understand him and his campaign platforms.
Because of the Electoral College, competition becomes the
only factor that plays a part.
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Here’s a rough list of the ever-changing 2004
Swing states:
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Florida
Iowa
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
The Chicago Tribune:
the impact of swing states
What's New
Electoral
College Table of Contents
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