Fred Thompson goes popular

Former Senator Fred Thompson is joining up with the non-partisan National Popular Vote effort, becoming "co-champion" of the organization.

Thompson, along with former Govs. Chet Culver (D-Iowa) and Jim Edgar (R-Illinois), will be introduced at a press conference Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., as co-champions of the Popular Vote campaign. Florida Republican Tom Golisano has already been named national spokesman for Popular Vote.

According to the plan being pushed by the organization, a popular vote system would award the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes in all 50 states, through state-by-state reform of the current electoral process.

A statement released by the group said: "The Popular Vote effort is seeking to ensure that every vote counts in presidential contests by reforming, not eliminating the Electoral College. With the current winner-takes-all system, just a few states with the most electoral votes ultimately decide who will be president. Campaigns ignore the rest, including Tennessee, as 'flyover states.'"

Under a popular vote system, votes would be counted in all states to determine the candidate receiving the most ballots. At that time, a compact of states representing 270 electoral votes (the number needed for election) would be awarded to that candidate. The decision whether to join the compact would be made at the state level, and no change to the U.S. Constitution would be necessary, the group said.