What do the numbers represent in the electoral college?

Answer 1

The numbers are the amount of votes a state has in the electoral college. A candidate must receive more than half of electoral votes in order to become president. In 2012, this means they must receive 270 electoral votes in order to become president.

Answer 2

Electors in the Electoral College represent the people who voted for them.

Electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College determine the President and Vice President of the United States. The political parties in each state choose slates of potential Electors sometime before the general election. The electoral college Electors in most states are selected by state party conventions or by the state party's central committee. In a few states the Electors are selected by primary election or by the party's presidential nominee. Political parties often choose Electors that are state elected officials, state party leaders, or people in the state who have a personal or political affiliation with their party's Presidential candidate.

On Election Day, the voters in each state select their state's Electors by casting their ballots for President. In most states, the names of individual Electors do not appear anywhere on the ballot; instead only those of the various candidates for President and Vice President appear, usually prefaced by the words "Electors for." The Electors are expected to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the party that nominated them.