Jim Messina: Republicans Attempting to Change the Election Rules Now ‘Is Ridiculous’

LEMIRE: “So Jim, it is never too early to talk about 270, the magic number. And there are some developments last —“
MESSINA: “Let’s talk about the map.”
LEMIRE: “Yeah, let’s talk about the map for a second, because there’s a buzzing about certain — about Nebraska right now. The governor there has thrown his support behind an effort that would no longer allocate electoral votes by congressional district. Right now, it’s five votes. Technically Republicans get four and President Biden — Democrats get the one from Omaha. If that changes — and we don’t know that it will, the state legislature is going to look at it — but if that changes, that takes away Biden’s best path to win. Because if you get — if he wins, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan —“
MESSINA: “Yeah.”
LEMIRE: “— but loses the other swing states, and no longer picks up the one in Nebraska 269. That leads playbook this morning, the alarm among Democrats that this is possible. What do you think?”
MESSINA: “I think this is what the modern Republican Party has become. They’re now changing the rules in the middle, trying to benefit themselves. This is the hell that Donald Trump hath wrought. In the middle this changing the rules 200 days before the election is ridiculous. I think you’re right. I think there are real simulation problems. When you look at the map, that one electoral vote really matters in the combination of other things, then you need another state.”
LEMIRE: “Yeah.”
MESSINA: “And so the easiest pathway to victory has always been the Midwestern three states combined with Nebraska. Something tells me they’re not going to get away with this easy and there will be a national outcry for trying to change the rules here. But it looks like they’re going to look at it.”