EDITORIAL ELECTORAL POLITICS BAD LAW WON'T EARN CALIFORNIA ANY RESPECT.

IT'S no secret that when it comes to U.S. presidential elections, California gets no respect.

Because our primary comes so late in the election season, it merely ratifies whatever candidate the rest of the nation has already selected.

And because the Electoral College awards all of the state's support to the candidate who gets more votes here -- which, these days, is always the Democrat -- the candidates don't even bother with us in the general election. The Republican considers us a lost cause; the Democrat takes us for granted.

Recently, the Democratic Party re-ordered its primary calendar to give some neglected states -- Nevada and North Carolina -- more influence. Notice that it did nothing to increase California's clout.

So it's understandable why the state Legislature has passed a bill that would effectively bypass the Electoral College -- understandable, but foolish.

The bill would award the state's electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote, provided that enough other states agree to do the same. The idea is to effectively decide presidential elections on the basis of the popular vote, thereby forcing candidates to pay more attention to states with bigger populations, like California.

But the result is that Californians could be forced to support a candidate that the voters reject. And that's assuming the state can legally compel individual electors to vote in a particular way, which is doubtful.

If state leaders want to do away with the Electoral College, they should work to amend the Constitution, not scheme to get around it. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should veto this bill. California isn't going to earn any respect by acting foolishly.