were going to vote for the president, basically. and the top two people would be the president, and the vice president. this was not popular democracy. this was having electors from the state actually take that decision on their own hands. >> so times have certainly changed. as you know the electoral college can be abolished. something happened in maryland this week they voted on tuesday to approve a system that basically would give their electoral votes to the president who won the popular vote. now for this to actually be implemented a majority of the states need to pass something similar. we're nowhere near that yet. do you think that modern times are changing enough where we will see, say in you know two, three elections from now, a popular vote as the driver of who wins? >> i'm dubious. you either need a constitutional amendment or you need a contusional convention. both are very difficult processes. we've had moments when there's this debate to change to a system of direct voting. the most recent was after 2000, and the bush v. gore decision.