Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- California Democrats are preparing to raise money to defeat a proposed initiative to change the way the state's electoral votes are granted, a bid they say could tilt the 2008 presidential election in favor of a Republican.

Some of the state's leading Democrats, including U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Farallon Capital Management LLC founder Thomas Steyer, and film producer Steve Bing announced today that they formed a group to finance a statewide campaign against the proposed ballot measure.

The initiative by Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer for the California Republican Party, would require that the most populous U.S. state's 55 electoral votes be apportioned based on results in each congressional district, rather than as a block based on statewide results. The change could give the next Republican presidential candidate as many as 19 additional votes, almost equal to all the electoral votes from Ohio.

``This isn't about promoting election reform but a fig leaf to cover up a Republican effort to rig the system in order to fix the election,'' said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist in San Francisco who is helping to organize opposition to the measure. ``In the event they do try to fix the system, we will have a group of very prominent California Democrats who will stand up and make sure this is defeated.''

Under the proposed initiative, 53 of the state's 55 electoral votes would be awarded according to congressional district results. The two final votes would be granted to the candidate that wins the state's overall popular vote.

Only Maine and Nebraska allot their nine combined electoral votes by congressional district.

Winner Takes All

President George W. Bush won 22 of the state's congressional districts in the 2004 election. All 55 of the state's electoral votes, the most of any state in the country, went to John Kerry after he received 1.24 million more votes than Bush in the statewide popular vote. Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are now held by Republicans.

Hiltachk didn't return a call to his Sacramento office for comment.

``If California eliminated its winner-take-all system of awarding its electoral votes, presidential candidates would have an incentive to campaign in California and to address the unique problems faced by Californians,'' Hiltachk said in a draft of the initiative filed with the California Attorney General's office. ``Many geographical areas of the state would be as important to a candidate's chance for victory as many of the smaller states.''

Hiltachk must gather 434,000 valid signatures, representing 2.78 percent of the state's 15.7 million registered voters, by December in order to qualify for the June 2008 statewide ballot. Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for the initiative campaign, said it could cost about $2 million to gather signatures.

Steve Bing's Money

Campaigns for statewide initiatives in California often run in the tens of millions of dollars. In 2005, supporters and opponents of eight initiatives on the ballot in November spent a combined $300 million on their campaigns. Bing spent $44 million of his own money during that election on an unsuccessful measure to raise taxes on oil production.

``Whenever you've got Steve Bing's money against you, it's guaranteed to be a big dollar fight,'' Eckery said.

The California Republican Party isn't involved in the initiative or the signature-gathering campaign, said party spokesman Hector Barajas.

Hiltachk has represented California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as his campaign lawyer and was a key proponent behind the 2003 recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis that propelled Schwarzenegger into office. Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said the Republican governor isn't involved with the ballot measure.

Similar Fights

Democrats supported an unsuccessful attempt in 2006 to grant Colorado's nine electoral votes according to results in congressional districts. Colorado is mostly a Republican state. They are considering similar legislation in North Carolina, also a Republican state with 15 electoral votes.

Next year's election likely will be the first since 1952 in which neither major party is fielding either an incumbent president or vice president as its candidate.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 16, 2007 14:00 EDT