Moon:
We here in the USA don't get to elect our president directly, either. (I'm not sure if this goes for more than the presidential race, but it might.) We elect an "electoral college" for each state (I think it is state), and their votes are the ones that are actually counted. And guess who chooses the electoral college? That's right, the party. This means that ALL of the electorial votes from a particular state go to a particular cantidate, they do not reflect the divided oppinion of the people in the state. The number of people in the electoral college for each state is, of course, determined by that state's population, so states like California carry more weight than those like Rhode Island, Montana, and Alaska. These procedures are in our Constitution. This means that if, in the ACTUAL vote by the people, a presidential cantidate could win small states, with their small electoral colleges, by large margins, but lose large states by small margins, losing the large electoral colleges. This can cause a presidential cantidate to win the popular vote (actual numbers from actual poeple) yet LOSE the election! I have heard that this happened in the '92 election between Bush and Clinton, Bush having actually won the popular vote, but lost the election.
So... I think that's all right. Anyone have any corrections?
[This message has been edited by Andy Wilson (edited 04-16-99).]