A century ago, on November 2, 1920, the Republicans under Warren G. Harding won a crushing victory against the Democrats under James Cox. The Republicans scored 60 percent of the vote and 404 electoral votes. The election is notable for several firsts. It was the first election after women nation wide gained the vote. It was the first election following Reconstruction where a former Confederate state, Tennessee, went Republican. Franklin D. Roosevelt made his first appearance on a national ticket as the Veep nominee with Cox, illustrating that early defeats in politics are often not illustrative of future results.
Eugene Debs, imprisoned under the draconian sedition laws of World War I for making a speech against US involvement in the World War, gained over 900,000 votes for President from his prison cell in Atlanta, Georgia. It was his fourth and last time carrying the standard of the Socialist Party in a Presidential contest. Harding, who was basically a very kindly man, commuted his sentence before Christmas in 1921. (The 66 year old Debs was not due to be released until 1928.) Debs, on his way home to Terre Haute stopped by the White House to meet and thank Harding. Harding greeted him warmly: “Well, I’ve heard so damned much about you, Mr. Debs, that I am now glad to meet you personally.” Debs died in 1926 and without Harding’s intervention he likely would have died in prison.
It appears things have changed in 100 years. I fear they’ll be no map at all in 2120
The most amazing thing about this map is the electoral numbers. The current California has sucked the electoral life out of so many states. One state having nearly 20% of the required total is too many and has caused a huge imbalance amongst the states. I suspect the Founding Fathers would not have approved of such an imbalance.