There was an interesting article about the United States Electoral College on (I think it was) CNN.com, and why it is, in fact, still beneficial to US Democracy. In this article, the analogy was drawn between the Electoral College and the playoffs in baseball. It stated that most Americans understand implicitly how, despite winning their division 10 years in a row, the Braves are not the best team in baseball because of the number of World Series they've won (1? One. No pun intended).
Food for thought.
