Dan:
> The electoral college may have its drawbacks, but consider two of its
> strengths.  One is that it requires presidential candidates to pay
> attention to all states rather than only the most populous states.  If
> it were a national popular vote in the U.S., how much attention would
> sparsely populated states such as New Hampshire or Iowa receive?

So the electoral college system makes a more comprehensive sell-job
necessary. I'd be reluctant to read that as a positive.

> If
> adjudicating and recounting the electoral returns of Florida are a bit
> much, imagine doing it for all fifty states in a close
> election (such as
> this one) if what mattered was the popular vote of the entire nation.

Which is the last thing anyone who presumes to be in power wants... a
popular will that 'matters'.

I wonder how a country with a sophisticated public process - Switzerland for
example, gets by without all this palaver.

Regards

b