If the Electoral College were eliminated what system could take its
place that would insure that the smaller states with smaller
populations would receive equal attention from the campaigns?

The electoral college is not a mechanism to ensure that smaller states
with smaller populations receive equal attention from the campaigns.
The electoral college means that the population's vote is not counted
directly for the candidate, votes are for members of the electoral
college who have pledged to vote for a certain candidate.

http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf

Although long (20 pages), this pretty much spells out the original,
historical and current aspects of the electoral college.

It seems to me that the major effect of the college today is promoting
and guiding the 2 party system.
A 3rd party candidate really stands little to no chance in today's
elections.  To become president a 3rd party would have to win the
electoral votes of many states which are comprised primarilly of
democrat and republican voters.  So rather than competing against the
2 parties, a 3rd party (or a special interest group) will usually
simply support one of the existing parties.  And of course the
existing parties are very welcoming to their support.

This is also an interesting site where you can see the US map and see
how states voted in every election since 1776.  It paints a good
picture of the development of the present electoral college in the
process if you follow it over the years.

www.270towin.com

The following article explains how the Electoral College really works.

http://www.discover.com/web-exclusives/math-against-tyranny/

If the EC went away, the only issues that politicians would talk about
would be those that garnered 50.01% of the popular vote.  It's easy to
overlook now, but the issues we have are generally those that are
relevant to a large cross section of the nation.

Over 50% of the population is in only 8 states.  The EC makes the
other 42 relevant to the election, since candidates have to visit them
in order to win.

With a purely popular vote system, there would be no chance that ANY
candidate for national office would visit many of the bottom 42
states.

Jack ,I realize the Electoral College was set up for reasons other
than ensuring that smaller states receive attention and resources from
national  campaigns, but you must admit that if the college were
eliminated and popular vote became the only mechanism for presidential
election, there would be little reason for candidates to turn their
attention to those smaller states. I am interested in a system that
prioritizes popular vote, but also provides that smaller populated
states not fall through the cracks with regard to campaign promises
and attention in general.
                                                                   Doug