Puerto Rico to become 51st state of the USA

[MRT144]

Conciliatory tones all around. Excellent.

[giblets]

Not necessarily. Their governor is Republican (though he just narrowly lost re-election).

Very true, they won't vote straight ticket, but they will elect Democratic senators. The Republicans will be what, seven seats short of a Senate majority instead of six?

[Hauldren Collider]

If they don't vote straight ticket they are much more likely to elect Republican senators than Republican presidents who are not from PR.

[regexcellent]

Arkansas elects democratic senators all the time. So does West Virginia. So does North Dakota.

[MRT144]

Do you think Republicans would block a move to allow PR into the union?

[regexcellent]

It's conceivable. I really hope not. It's a ****ty reason to deny statehood. Of course, that's exactly how it worked back in the days of slave states and free states.

[giblets]

Do you think Republicans would block a move to allow PR into the union?

I hope they do everything within their power to make it look like they hate hispanics.

[regexcellent]

I hope they don't, because the Republicans really do have the power to stop PR from joining the Union.

[snoopy369]

It did. In fact I'll say it did get a clear majority. So far there's no proof the blank votes are used as an argument (or part of one) against statehood from either side. The winning gubernatorial candidate could contest the vote, or accept it as a clear majority. It's too early to tell, but so far most non-insane media agree it's a clear majority, and supporters look to be celebrating. We'll see.

Dictionary, Ecthy, dictionary. "Majority" means over half of people voted to support it. "Plurality" means more people voted to support it than voted against it.

[MRT144]

I hope they don't, because the Republicans really do have the power to stop PR from joining the Union.

Honestly, I can see Republicans and some Democrats try to block PR into the union, purely as a calculated politicking move, not because they have any other real opposition to it. Sure there are racists but it'd be shocking if one of them opined racist reasons to block PR. Though the whole rape thing...i dont know.

[regexcellent]

They wouldn't block PR over racism; it's purely partisan politics. Not wanting more of the enemy into their chamber of Congress. If they were simply white liberal New Englanders as opposed to hispanic Puerto Ricans it would be the same thing.

[Ecthy]

Dictionary, Ecthy, dictionary. "Majority" means over half of people voted to support it. "Plurality" means more people voted to support it than voted against it.

1) Irrelevant. It's a commission that calls the result. If there's a majority of valid votes, then it's called exactly that, a majority.

2) You still haven't apologized for your math blunder. .54 * .66, I mean please?

[snoopy369]

.36 is a lot closer to .44 than .66 is. Seems like I pointed out something that was true without being right in the exact number...

And the point of 'clear majority' is that Obama and the Republicans wouldn't have used the word 'clear' if they weren't intending to be rather, hmm, particular about it. I don't know for sure what either will do - but I think the usage of that word signals that they don't intend to allow statehood with this sort of murky result (even if your interpretation is perfectly reasonable).

[Hauldren Collider]

Do you think Republicans would block a move to allow PR into the union?

I doubt it. They could rather take it as an opportunity to reach out to hispanics, something they desperately need to do. Puerto Ricans aren't immigrants, remember.

[Ecthy]

.36 is a lot closer to .44 than .66 is. Seems like I pointed out something that was true without being right in the exact number...

And the point of 'clear majority' is that Obama and the Republicans wouldn't have used the word 'clear' if they weren't intending to be rather, hmm, particular about it. I don't know for sure what either will do - but I think the usage of that word signals that they don't intend to allow statehood with this sort of murky result (even if your interpretation is perfectly reasonable).

So we remain waiting for PR domestic politics to develop. As I indicated earlier, the winning candidate has both options, but so far there's no proof he'll contest the results' meaning as assumed by the statehood supporters or the western media.