Originally Posted by kane

Let's base it on 2016 election numbers. This means a candidate is going to need around 66 million votes to win. A person would have to win 100% of the vote from the 9 most heavily populated states in the nation to get to 66 million votes. There is no way that will ever happen considering that half those states are red, half are blue and a couple are tossup states. At best a person could hope to get 50% of the vote spread out across those states, but lets say they managed to get 60%. That would be around 40 million votes. they still need another 26 million to win.

Both candidates will be forced to campaign around the country to get votes. Focusing just on the top four states like you proclaimed would result in a loss.