against the populist left. I don't think Bern can win the electoral college as the nation is set up today, unless the economy tanks. Without an electoral college, overwhelming liberal majorities in a few very populous places might allow him to win. Frankly, I am not upset that Bern's path is made harder by the electoral college.

But given current distribution of the country, it does smooth the way for a populist who appeals to the right. The electoral college provides no protection against the country electing whackjob populists. And it wasn't designed to. But it does prevent a populist from only appealing to a couple of states by promising them everything, maybe at the expense of other states, and ignoring the rest of the country.

Say what you want about Trump, but he didn't ignore MI and WI in the general election. Hillary did, and she paid the price (along with the rest of us). Trump's populism had to find some purchase in the NE (meaning PA) and northern midwest to go with the south and lower midwest (Indiana, Kansas), or he wouldn't have won. The electoral college wasn't a gift for Trump (although his popular loss will make my fellow anti-Trumpies rage at that conclusion), but it was taken for granted by Hill (IMO).