The Massachusetts legislature seems poised to enact a plan, as evil as it is ingenious, to run an end-around on the electoral college and the Constitution.

It would work by tying the Bay State’s 12 electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote nationwide. If a number of states equivalent to at least 270 electoral votes were to pass the measure, it would effectively neuter the college.

I know that this is remedial for Cornerites, but the electoral college is one of the last vestiges of federalism we have left. It reflects the Founders’ conviction that the method of choosing the Executive should reflect the will of the several states qua states — he’s called the President of the United States, not the President of America. The desire to protect the integrity and discreteness of the states, and to prevent the most populous states from running up the score in the vote, was the essence of the Connecticut Compromise. Do away with the college and you might as well abolish the Senate. Not that many on the Left would shed too many tears over that prospect.

In any event, there is something of a consolation prize here: unless and until enough states adopt the measure to give it teeth, Massachusetts will wind up serving as a mere rubber stamp for whoever wins the presidency by accruing enough votes in the other 49 states. Which means Massachusetts could realistically go Republican in 2012. . .

UPDATE: A reader spoils my fun:

Nefarious, yes, but unfortunately not completely stupid. As in other states where this measure has been passed, it will not take effect unless and until enough states adopt the measure to give it teeth. From Article III of the bill:
“This article shall govern the appointment of presidential electors in each member state [i.e., states having passed similar acts] in any year in which this agreement is, on July 20, in effect in states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes.”
So we’ll just have to win Massachusetts the old fashioned way.