Lake Conroe Area Republican Women / 2012
Questions about LCARW?
Contact Janis Boulware, President at jboulware@consolidated.net or 936-447-6606 or email info@lcarw.org
Political Advertising Paid for by LCARW PAC
February 16
7:00 PM
Special Evening General Meeting
Candidate Forum
Optional Dinner - 5:30 p.m.
Call Walden Yacht Club for Reservations
936-582-4222
Upcoming Events:
LCARW General Meeting
February 21
9:30 AM
Greater Houston Council Meeting
Nuts & Bolts Training
Sosa Center - Houston
See attached Nuts "N" Bolts Info
Thursday - February 16, 2012
Part Two, Candidate Forum
Free and Open to the Public
7:00 p.m. Walden Yacht Club
Texas State Senate
Tammy Blair
Robert Nichols (incumbent)
Presidents Message
by Janis Boulware
Every presidential election year the topic of the Electoral College comes up. I thought it might be good to explore this topic since the number of electoral college votes by state changed for 2012 based on the U.S. Census count of 2010. Since Electoral College representation is based on congressional representation, states with larger populations get more Electoral College votes. Texas received an increase of 4 electoral votes - double the increase for the next highest state of Florida (+2). Many of the northern states (NJ, PA, MI, MA, IA, IL) lost one vote while New York and Ohio each lost two.
Each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives, plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators. Texas will have 38. The District of Columbia gets three electors. State laws determine how electors are chosen; generally selected by the political party committees within the state. There are currently 538 electors and the votes of a majority of them -- 270 votes -- are required to be elected this year. That's the number to know in November!
Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants the power to elect the president and vice president to the states through the Electoral College system. Under the Constitution, the highest-ranking U.S. officials elected by direct popular vote of the people are the governors of the states. The Founding Fathers had personally seen the dangers of placing ultimate power into a single individual and therefore feared a strictly popular vote could lead to a "tyranny of the majority." This is why the United States was set up as a representative democracy (as opposed to a pure democracy) and operated under a "republican" form of government as provided for in Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution which states, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican form of Government..." Critics claim the Electoral College is outdated because the U.S. now has established political parties and improved communication methods and therefore an election based on the popular vote would be more appropriate. To abolish the electoral process, however, would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The proposed amendment would need two-thirds vote from both houses of Congress AND be ratified by three-fourths of the states. That's not too likely to happen, so do what you can to keep Texas a strong RED State!
February 23
4:00 - 7:00 PM
Wine Tasting
Retreat Hill Winery
Downtown Montgomery
See Retreat Hill Info
A great way to welcome new and
returning members!
March 1
11:30 AM
Board Meeting
April Sound Country Club
All Invited
March 15
11:30 AM
General Meeting
Reservations Required for Lunch
Walden Yacht Club
THESE CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN INVITED
U.S. Senate
(Senator Kay Baily Hutchinson’s seat)
Glen Addison
entrepreneur from Magnolia
“Doc Joe” Agris
Surgeon from Houston
Curt Cleaver
entrepreneur fromFt. Worth
Ted Cruz
former Texas Solicitor General
David Dewhurst
Lt. Governor
Tom Leppert
former Mayor of Dallas
Craig James
former NE Patriot and ESPN commentator
Lela Pittenger
Dripping Springs’ political outsider
Texas Supreme Court
Place 4
David Medina (incumbent)
Jo Pool, Jr.
Court of Criminal Appeals
Place 8
Elsa Alcala (incumbent)
Ken Law
State Board of Education
Barbara Cargill (incumbent)
Linda Ellis
State Representaative
District 3
Bob Bagley
Cecil Bell
