By Eyobong Ita

In U.S. presidential election, 270 is not just a number, it is the magic number – the Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. And if the election was decided today, Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide. With about 80 days to the November 8 elections, all the scientific polls in America show that Clinton would conveniently secure at least 288 electoral college votes, with Trump guaranteed 174 while 76 toss up votes could go either way.

This file photo combination shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton(L) on April 4, 2016 and Republican challenger Donald Trump on February 16, 2016.
November’s US presidential election is taking shape: Republican billionaire Donald Trump and Democratic power player Hillary Clinton look set for an ugly battle for the White House after a bruising primary season. Trump knocked out his only serious challenger Ted Cruz on May 3, 2016 in Indiana’s key primary, winning 53 percent of the vote against 37 percent for the Texas senator, who raised the white flag and surprisingly pulled out of the race.
/ AFP PHOTO

As terrible as it appears to be, it doesn’t mean the race is over. Anything can still happen. However, considering the organizational skill and financial clout of both campaigns, only one major occurrence can swing this election in favor of Trump – Divine intervention.

Trump continues to draw more crowds at his campaign than Clinton. However, unlike Nigeria, where the winner of the popular votes heads to Aso Rock, the White House is decided only by Electoral College votes. For instance, in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore won more votes than then Gov. George W. Bush, but lost the Electoral College votes, hence Bush became president.

Here, it doesn’t matter if the candidate wins a state by one vote or 20 million votes, only the electoral college votes are awarded. For instance, a candidate that wins Ohio gets 20 electoral college votes whether he/she wins by just one vote or by 20 million.

Here’s how that works. Each state is allotted Electoral College votes based on the size of its congressional delegation – one for each member of the House and two for the senators from each state, although the electors are not necessarily members of congress. Although the District of Columbia is not a state and has no senator or a voting member of Congress, the 23rd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows D.C. to have three electoral college votes. Overall, there are 538 electoral college votes and 270 is the minimum majority to win.

After the presidential election, electors are then required to meet in their state capital to cast their votes, which is what really counts. They can vote to confirm or ratify the candidate the masses voted for, or they can vote to overturn the will of the masses.

Although historically that has not yet happened, they have the constitutional right to vote against the will of the masses and if all electors in a state vote against the popular vote, their votes will supersede those of the masses. For instance, if Clinton wins but the electoral college members in a particular state decide to vote for Trump and the overall votes are more than Clinton’s, Trump automatically wins, or vice versa.

Elections not all about Trump, Clinton 

The focus of the November 8 elections is apparently on Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Hilary Clinton. However, they are not the only ones on the ballot. In many of the 50 states, there are ballot issues or propositions that will draw supporters and opponents to the polls. On ballot issues, the voters vote Yes or No. If the yes votes win, the issue either becomes law or an existing law gets repealed, depending on the ballot language.

Beginning today, I would highlight some key ballot issues in some states that the voters feel passionately about. Don’t get confused, these ballot issues have nothing to do with electoral college. It is decided by popular votes only. Here are some propositions in the state of California, the largest state in the union:

Proposition 64 – Although medical marijuana is legal in California, this ballot issue is seeking to legalize marijuana and hemp for everyone while the state would be allowed to impose local regulation and taxation on the use of marijuana.  Just like cigarettes, the law prohibits marketing and advertising marijuana to minors – children under 18 years.

Proposition 60 – If this initiative passes, the state will require the use of condoms and other protective measures during the filming of pornographic films featuring sexual intercourse produced in California, as well as requiring pornography producers to pay for certain health requirements and checkups for the actors/actresses.

Now, if you were in California, how would you vote – Yes or No?

Trump Shakes up Campaign

With Trump losing in all national polls, the Republican presidential candidate this week appointed a Chief Executive Officer and a new Manager for his campaign – changes supporters say will shake up the campaign and restore him to winning ways that he was so used to during the Republican primaries.

Stephen K. Bannon, chairman of the Breitbart News website, and Kellyanne Conway, a veteran pollster and strategist, have since assumed the roles of CEO and manager, respectively.

Bannon, known for his conspiracy theories in the provocatively far-right Breitbart News website, is expected to allow Trump to be his bombastic, no-holds-barred self, an image the party’s established members object to. But Trump believes that’s the only way he can win this election. He insists that he wants to be himself, even if that would cost him the election.

Hillary’s email scandal back

It’s b-a-c-k! The story Hillary Clinton and her supporters pray would go away is still back. The FBI this week decided to handover notes of the interview the agency conducted with Hillary to Congressional members.

The bad news is, the email scandal has seriously undermined the credibility of Hillary. A majority of the voters believe she is not trustworthy and that issue remains the biggest problem for the Democrat opponent. The good news for her is that Hillary and her army or surrogates have succeeded in making a majority of the voters believe that her opponent (Trump) is temperamentally unfit to be president.

The other thing going for Hillary is that although Congress will get the notes from her interview, they cannot discuss or leak the contents to the public because the notes are classified materials. Any leak could amount to perjury subject to prosecution.

Marco Rubio’s Dilemma

Remember him? Sen. Marco Rubio was one of 100 (sorry, 17) Republican candidates annihilated by Donald Trump during the Republican Primaries. Rubio, a Florida junior senator who seized every moment to vehemently criticize President Obama, found out the hard way that his good looks were not enough to succeed in a presidential campaign. He could not even win his state during the primaries, losing in embarrassing fashion to Trump.

At the twilight of his campaign, he decided to go head-to-head with Trump. He taunted the real estate mogul and even called him a con man. At the time, Rubio had said he wouldn’t be seeking reelection for his senate seat. He later reversed course and decided to give it another shot. Just this week, the Miami Herald editorial board asked Rubio if he still believes Trump is a con man.

He said he stands by everything he said during the primaries. And wait for this – he also said he still supports Trump for president. Say what? A sitting U.S. senator supports someone he believes is con man to become the leader of the free world?

Lord have mercy!