Something is happening in West Virgina, but you don't
now what it is, do you, Mr. Rove?
Chris Stirewalt, Charleston Daily Mail: "I know that
among some in my own party, what I'm discussing would
be considered treasonous," Robb said. "But I'm not
going to cheerlead us down the primrose path when I
know we're being led in the wrong direction."
"I know that among some in my own party, what I'm
discussing would be considered treasonous," Robb said.
"But I'm not going to cheerlead us down the primrose
path when I know we're being led in the wrong
direction."
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://dailymail.com/news/News/2004090817/
Robb's vote may not go to Bush
GOP mayor may use Electoral College to lodge protest
against president
Chris Stirewalt
Daily Mail Political Editor
Wednesday September 08, 2004
South Charleston Mayor Richie Robb said today he may
vote against George W. Bush in the Electoral College,
even if the president carries West Virginia's popular
vote.
Robb, long known as a maverick Republican, said he is
considering using his position as one of the state's
five Republican electors to protest what he believes
are misguided policies of the current administration.
"It's not likely that I would vote for Kerry," Robb
said. "But I'm looking at what my options are when it
comes time to cast my vote."
State election law dictates that the party of the
candidate who wins the popular vote for president gets
to send its five electors when the Electoral College
convenes in mid-December.
At their state convention in June, the members of the
West Virginia Republican Party chose the top five
runners-up from their gubernatorial primary to serve
as electors. Robb, who finished fourth in the May
primary, will be among them.
Robb, who said he might reconsider if Bush changed his
foreign and domestic policy priorities, said he is
researching his options under state law.
There is no provision in the West Virginia code that
controls what an elector does at the Electoral College
or provides any punishment for faithless electors.
There have been eight electors in American history who
have chosen to go against the popular vote in their
home states, including Margarette Leach of Huntington,
who declined to vote for Michael Dukakis in 1988, even
though Dukakis carried West Virginia.
Leach cast her presidential vote for Dukakis' running
mate, Lloyd Bentsen instead. In 2000, one of the
electors from the District of Columbia withheld her
vote altogether in protest of the district's lack of
statehood.
Robb said he is considering either voting for a third
candidate or withholding his vote altogether.
"I know that among some in my own party, what I'm
discussing would be considered treasonous," Robb said.
"But I'm not going to cheerlead us down the primrose
path when I know we're being led in the wrong
direction."
Fellow elector Rob Capehart was somewhat taken aback
by Robb's flirtation with defection.
"We have a duty and responsibility to cast our
electoral votes behind the president if he wins West
Virginia," Capehart said. "Because that's what the
Republican Party expected when they chose us."
Capehart raised the possibility that in a very close
election, every electoral vote becomes crucial. In
such a case, Robb would wield great power by virtue of
his willingness to defect.
"Will Richie Robb decide who the next president is?"
Capehart asked. "It's more important for us to
maintain an allegiance for the people of West Virginia
than an allegiance to our own personal viewpoint."
Robb's complaints about Bush center on what the mayor
believes was a misguided policy on Iraq and the
swelling budget deficit.
"I only started to really rethink my position
seriously after the accusations about Kerry's service
in Vietnam, though," Robb said. "I served in Vietnam,
and I think Bush's surrogates, and I think really the
Bush campaign, went beyond the line with those ads."
But state GOP Chairman Kris Warner was confident that
Robb would come around.
"I'm confident that he'll do the right thing," Warner
said. "He's a veteran. And although he's an
independent mayor of South Charleston and does things
his own way, he also knows what it's like to be part
of a team."
Writer Brad McElhinny contributed to this story.
Contact writer Chris Stirewalt at 348-4824.
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