[lepton]

Doesn't the Electoral College system help ensure that the President represents the whole country? If the voters in a few heavily populated states could determine the outcome (because they would determine the popular vote) wouldn't Presidential candidates pander to urbanized areas and ignore rural states?

Yes. The Electoral College discourages regional candidates in several ways. It also moderates the effect of a regional disaster (like a hurricane suppressing votes in the east or south), and limits the effects of vote fraud (massive fraud in Florida doesn't directly affect Georgia).

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Interesting points I hadn't thought of. Here in Canada, there's no separate election for the Prime Minister -- the PM is simply the leader of the party with the most seats in Parliament. When that's combined with the fact that we have 4 major parties in Parliament, the governing party seldom actually has a popular majority. We also have regional parties -- like the Bloc Quebecois -- which can have a lot of power in a minority government situation, like we now have.

Politicians will always try to game the system, regardless of what that system is.