The Electoral College is pure genius.
If you're interested in a terrific read on how our Constitution, including the electoral college, came about, I can highly recommend this novelized historical account ($8.99 on Kindle):
Product Description
As featured on The Glenn Beck Show. Tempest at Dawn is on the Glenn Beck Reading List.
The United States is on the brink of total collapse. The military has been reduced to near extinction, economic turmoil saps hope, and anarchy threatens as world powers hover like vultures, eager to devour the remains. In a desperate move, a few powerful men call a secret meeting to plot the overthrow of the government. Fifty-five men came to Philadelphia in May of 1787 with a congressional charter to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead they founded the longest lasting republic in world history. Tempest at Dawn tells their story.
http://www.lwv.org/Content/ContentGroups/StudyTaskforces/NPVCompactStudy/NPVArgument_con.pdf
Read up on the NPV. We are getting real close to having the large city states elect our presidents from now on out without a constitutional convention.