Electoral College Dropouts

I like the sound of this:

Lawmakers hoping to propel Maryland into a more prominent role in presidential campaigns have introduced bills that would award the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide.

The aim is to prevent a repeat of the 2000 presidential election, in which Democratic nominee Al Gore won the popular vote but lost to Republican George W. Bush in the contest for electoral votes.

According to National Popular Vote, which is spearheading the initiative to have states adopt laws like this, 20 states have introduced the bill this year, but only Colorado's Senate has passed it. California's Assembly passed it last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger vetoed it.

Of all the things the framers of the Constitution got right, the Electoral College was not one of them, and we're been tryin for the last 200 years to move away from it. These days, its main purpose seems to be to deny half the country the right of actually participating in a presidential campaign (Maryland, for one, falls in that category). And in a time of dysfunctional election machines (and administrators), do we really need yet another means of casting doubt on the legitimacy of our political institutions?