“I took the unusual step of tracking down email addresses for both candidates and sent them a few questions are relevant issues. So far, neither has responded” - David you need to tell them you are chief political editor at the world famous The Racket News. They’ll jump all over themselves to answer.
"If there was no Electoral College, small states like Arizona, Ohio and Wisconsin would never see presidential candidates. Contenders would spend all their time in big, metropolitan states where the donors and big media markets are. As the system currently stands, candidates need the small states."
Just to quibble, but I think you're making a category error here. The Electoral College doesn't incentivize candidates to care about small states (how much time do Presidential candidates spend campaigning in Alaska or Vermont?), it incentivizes them to spend time, resources, and attention to closely-split states to add as many "50% + 1 vote" victories as they can to their existing slate of states that will reliably break their way. That's why much more money is poured into Ohio (the 7th MOST populist state in the Union) than Alaska and Vermont will ever see. (Arizona is the 14th most populous and Wisconsin checks in at #21.[1])
“I took the unusual step of tracking down email addresses for both candidates and sent them a few questions are relevant issues. So far, neither has responded” - David you need to tell them you are chief political editor at the world famous The Racket News. They’ll jump all over themselves to answer.
"If there was no Electoral College, small states like Arizona, Ohio and Wisconsin would never see presidential candidates. Contenders would spend all their time in big, metropolitan states where the donors and big media markets are. As the system currently stands, candidates need the small states."
Just to quibble, but I think you're making a category error here. The Electoral College doesn't incentivize candidates to care about small states (how much time do Presidential candidates spend campaigning in Alaska or Vermont?), it incentivizes them to spend time, resources, and attention to closely-split states to add as many "50% + 1 vote" victories as they can to their existing slate of states that will reliably break their way. That's why much more money is poured into Ohio (the 7th MOST populist state in the Union) than Alaska and Vermont will ever see. (Arizona is the 14th most populous and Wisconsin checks in at #21.[1])
[1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/states
Well, I did my civic duty and filled out my at-home ballot for the June 7 California primary.
It's so much easier to have the time to compare with the voting booklet and do research on-line at the same time.