Jonah: A minor addendum and a new point. Gore really earned 267 electoral votes, not 266. One of his electors chose not to vote in “protest” of the Florida outcome. Also, as I pointed out in the most recent issue of NRODT, Democrats have their own electoral advantage because our government apportions House seats (and thereby electoral votes) on the basis of state populations, including populations of illegal aliens. California gains political clout under this arrangement–specifically, three extra House seats. Apportionment is a zero-sum game, which means there are winners (+3 for California) and losers (-1 for each of Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, and Montana). Overall electoral advantage for the Democrats, based on the 2000 Bush-Gore results: +2. It doesn’t quite nullify the population shift to Bush states, but it does take a cut.