Places and Things

http://ift.tt/2hsEmp8      With just days to go until the real election of 2016 — the Electoral College — the rogue faction known as the Hamilton Electors is making one last-ditch effort to save America from Donald Trump by denying him the 270 votes he’ll need to be officially named president.      But can the Hamilton Electors convince enough of their fellows in the Electoral College to view Gov. John Kasich of Ohio as our era’s George Washington?      Their leaders, who named their group after Federalist Paper No. 68, say it’s still possible that they’ll succeed.      First, though, a word about the rules of the game: In theory, the 306 electors committed to Trump and the 232 electors committed to Hillary Clinton are allowed to disregard the voters of their states, denying any candidate the 270-vote minimum needed to win the presidency, and force the election to be decided by the House of Representatives. This has already happened twice — in 1800, when they averted an Aaron Burr