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Richie Robb:

The Most Powerful Man in America?

Kari Chisholm
BlueOregon.com
October 24, 2004

Richie Robb is the the mayor of South Charleston, West Virginia. And if the electoral map falls just so, he may turn out to be the most powerful man in America.

You see, he's one of the five GOP electors for West Virginia. But, he's already served notice that he won't be voting for George W. Bush. In many states, being a "faithless elector" isn't legal - but in West Virginia, it's game on. (In 1988, a Democratic elector voted for Lloyd Bentsen.)

Is there a realistic scenario of red states and blue states that puts Mayor Richie Robb in the catbird seat? You bet there is.

For starters, line up the obvious reds and blues. For Dubya, it's Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming.

For JFK, it's California, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington. With the solids in place, it's Bush 187, Kerry 164 - with 187 left.

Then, let's assign some realistic outcomes for some swing states. In the red column, let's put Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, West Virginia. In the blue column, it's Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon (wahoo!). After all that, it's Bush 222, Kerry 229 - with 87 left.

I know there's plenty of scenarios under which some of those states could swing another way - but stay with me for a moment.

What's left? Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

We know lil' Jeb is gonna steal Florida for his brother. Color the panhandle red. Bush 249.

After billions of charitable giving in western Pennsylvania, let's figure Teresa has bought the state for her hubby. Color the keystone blue. Kerry 250.

Wisconsin has become a real swing state, but I think that the land of cheeseheads will ultimately swing Kerry's way. Color Packer country Patriot blue. Kerry 260.

Up in New Hampshire, they've been watching Kerry's ads for twenty years through the Boston media market. Color the granite state blue. Kerry 264.

All politics is local, and Bush wants to drive thousands of tons of nuclear waste into Nevada. Color Nevada blue. Kerry 269.

And of course, that leads us to the ultimate swing state: Ohio. No Republican has ever won the presidency without the Buckeye State. Jerry Springer says it's going blue, but I think the good folks at Diebold are going to steal it for Dubya. Bush 269.

Ladies and gentlemen, that gives us a 269-269 tie. Which brings us back to Richie Robb.

Now, he's said that he won't likely vote for Kerry, just withhold his vote from Bush - but you can damn well believe that he'll get lots and lots of pressure.

This last spring, Mayor Robb finished fourth in a ten-candidate primary for the GOP nomination for Governor. He was described as the only progressive running in either party's primary, with a strong pro-environment platform:

"Environmental protection is good business practice and for the tourism industry a necessity. The days of confrontation between our extractive-energy industry and the environmental must end. The two can work together and it is up to us West Virginians to see that they do."

Could Richie Robb be convinced to swing his vote to Kerry - the pro-environment candidate?

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