Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 19 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
expected in commentary, which argues a position · beta estimate
Publisher signals
not measured
these signals count newsroom corrections;
Commentary has none to count
Outlets on this story
1
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Senator Chris Van Hollen announced he will challenge Chuck Schumer to be majority leader in the next Congress, triggering a dramatic power struggle as Democrats prepare to take control of Capitol Hill after their midterms win.
asserted
Democrats → announce → win
“The voters called for big change, and this is a time that we have to deliver for people across the country,” Van Hollen, of Maryland, told the Washington Post.
asserted
Hollen → call → Post
Here’s what Van Hollen told Zeteo last month – and the case we made for him to run this week.
asserted
him → ’ → Zeteo
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ I make the case for why Democrats should get rid of the Electoral College and how the midterms’ ‘blue tsunami’ has finally made that a possibility.
asserted
that → make → College
Plus, some centrist Dems want to join with Republicans to push more surveillance and less privacy in this lame-duck session of Congress.
asserted
Dems → want → Congress
Are you kidding me?
asserted
you → kid → me
Hey, but at least Chris Van Hollen is challenging the useless Chuck Schumer for the Senate Majority Leader’s post.
asserted
Hollen → challenge → post
Did you read Prem’s very timely ‘First Draft’ lede this week making the case for Van Hollen?
asserted
you → read → Hollen
Let’s get into it.
asserted
’s → let → it
Time to Kill the Anti-Democratic Electoral College
We should never forget that the two most divisive and destructive American presidents in living memory, George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump, were elected to their first terms after losing the popular vote; after winning fewer votes than their Democratic opponents.
asserted
presidents → kill → opponents
Al Gore beat Bush in 2000 by half a million votes.
asserted
Gore → beat → votes
Hillary Clinton trumped Trump in 2016 by a whopping 3 million votes.
asserted
Clinton → trump → votes
Yet, thanks to this country’s archaic and anti-democratic Electoral College, Bush and Trump joined three other American presidents in winning the White House despite losing the popular vote.
asserted
Bush → join → vote
The Electoral College, which grants the presidency to the candidate who receives a simple majority of at least 270 of 538 total electoral votes, comes from Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3.
asserted
who → grant → Article
It was a consequence of delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia fearing a direct democracy and the rise of populist demagogues (oh, the irony!).
asserted
delegates → fear → demagogues
Opinion polls dating back to the 1940s show clear majorities in favor of switching to a national popular vote.
asserted
polls → date → vote
Yet the Electoral College persists because the constitutional amendment needed to abolish it is a near-impossibility.
asserted
amendment → persist → it
So what can be done?
asserted
what → do → ?
Well, intriguingly, tantalizingly, here’s how the Democratic Party’s blue tsunami in last week’s midterms could perhaps finish off the Electoral College for good.
uncertain
finish → ’ → College
The Aporia
