Talk Elections

I keep hearing about how a governor is supposed to deliver his/her state for the party's nominee.

How does this happen, both legitimately and fraudulently?

How does the governor help?  I don't think swing voters run around thinking, "My beloved governor is a Democrat/Republican, therefore I'm voting for the Democratic/Republican presidential nominee."  The Democratic governors of Wyoming, Kansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Iowa (battleground state), and New Mexico (battleground state) weren't able to deliver their states for Kerry.  The Republican governors of New Hampshire (battleground state), California,  Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota (battleground state), New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont were unable to deliver their states for Bush.

I've also heard that the governor is important for either helping his/her party steal the vote or stopping the opposite party from doing so.  What role does the governor play in stealing the vote or preventing this from happening?  Could Florida have been stolen without Jeb Bush?  Could Ohio have been stolen without Bob Taft and Ken Blackwell?  How would Rendell have stopped any attempts by the Republicans to steal Pennsylvania?  Why couldn't the Bush campaign have found a way to steal the state from under him?  How do we know that the Bush campaign didn't find a way around Richardson to steal New Mexico or around Vilsack to steal Iowa?  For that matter, how do you know that the Kerry campaign didn't get around Pawlenty to steal Minnesota or around  Benson to steal New Hampshire?

Congratulations on the dumbest thread ever

Having a governor of the same party does help. It helps out a lot with fundraising, and in scheduling campaign events and the ground game for election day. That's only talking legitimate means of course...

But no governor can "deliver" a state in that they win a state that would be unwinnable otherwise. The idea is just ridiculous. I still have to chuckle about the delusional Republicans who though Arnold could "deliver" California to Bush.

It almost never happens illegally.

A governor generally has a political organization that he can "lend" to a candidate.  A lot of people own him favors.  Sununu, in the 1988 primary, called NH TV and begged them to sell Bush more air time.  Sununu had done a lot of business with the TV station and they remembered.

Well, LBJ delivered Texas in both 1960 and 1968. And I believe that guy Daley delivered Chicago (and thus Illinois) to Kennedy in 1960 and almost to Carter in 1976. It depends on who the governor is of course. If he's unpopular he obviously won't help much. Unless I'm mistaken though they play a much bigger role in primaries.

In a box, usually.  Certified Mail.

Might work for Delaware or Rhode Island.

By campaigning for the candidate he has personally supports, and that the party he belongs to officially endorsed. 

Er,ask Governors Agnew (1968 Maryland), Stevenson (1952 Illinois) or Warren (1948 California) just how effective they were at 'delivering' their states.

The truth can now be told.

Bush and the Republicans did not steal Ohio in 2004, the truth is, Kerry and the Democrats stole Wisconsin in 2004.

Shame, shame.

The interesting thing is that in 2004, only about 60% of governors "delivered" their state. This is much lower than the number of Senators who are of the same party as how their state voted for President.

There's really no way of knowing that this is true.  It's possible, but there's no certainty to it whatsoever.

Keep in mind there are twice as many senators in each state.

How do you count states with 1 Senator from each party?

I counted each Senator individually. There are 16 Democrats who represent states that voted for Bush and there are 9 Republicans who represent states that voted for Kerry. So 25% of Senators represent the opposite party. It's roughly 40% with Governors.

They do't deliver.  They "Campaign for".  If they are popular, they might (or might not) help some popularity rub off on the candidate.

The governors can't generally do this solo, but there are some 'gray area" tactics such as limiting the number of polling stations in opposing districts (thus causing a several-hour line to vote that some may not choose to endure), "liberally" purging voter rolls, allowing "challenges" to set aside votes of voters in the opposition party to intimidate them out of voting (often in conjunction with long lines at polling stations giving potential voters a sense of futility), finding excuses to exclude/include new voter registrations on technicality, and creative "interperetation" of ballots.

Thread summary:


THE REPUBLCIANS STOLE THE ELECTION... INCLUDING UTAH

Virtually none of those can be done by a governor.  Polling stations are almost universally under a lower level, county or municipal, and are subject to laws, like ADA.  "Purging" is generally done by law, and, prior to "Motor-Voter," in Pennsylvania was done solely on if the person had voted in the last two years, or with a change of address.  Likewise, statute controls the registration "technicalities," like being registered in two places at once.  The "interpretation" is also done at the county level.

The phrase "deliver the state" perhaps derives from the party nominating processes before the institution of the open primary. The Governor, who could perhaps offer patronage and other incentives to party delegates, might play a large role in determining which faction carries the state's delegates to the national convention, and thus perhaps "deliver" the state for a candidate.