ELECTORAL COLLEGE STILL SERVES US WELL

Calls for jettisoning the Electoral College are being heard again, given the closest election in 40 years and an apparent result in which one candidate has won the popularity vote while losing the electoral tally provided the electors register their preferences as anticipated. Nationwide, Vice President Al Gore's popular vote total was some 200,000 higher than that of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who appears to have a majority of electoral votes.

There have been at least 900 attempts throughout American history to abolish the Electoral College. None has ever gotten very far. And, we hope, none ever will.

A little history is in order.

The Electoral College was part of the Great Compromise at the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787. This was the compromise that resulted in each state getting two U.S. senators -- even tiny Delaware, sparsely populated Wyoming and small-sized Vermont, along with heavily populated New York and California.

The Framers, looking to ample historical warnings, greatly feared absolute democracy and the possible result: mob rule. As a result, they took great pains to steer our country away from a national plebiscite in choosing a president and toward a state-by-state contest of candidates' competing for the electoral votes of each state. Strictly speaking, the Framers didn't establish a democracy but rather a republic.

We have them to thank for this, along with providence. Through 200 years of American history, the Electoral College has served us well. The concerns of rural and small-town Missouri would get short shrift from national candidates if all they had to do was amass the largest total of popular votes in the giant cities of both coasts, plus a few in the Great Lakes region.

With the Electoral College, candidates are forced to compete for votes in more than a dozen swing states, including many that, like Missouri, are composed of both populous urban centers and large stretches of rural and small-town residents.

The Electoral College helps to unite Americans in our great, and greatly diverse, nation. It is vital to resist all ill-considered calls to abolish it.