As much as I abhor the constant whining about the electoral college, the popular vote still carries meaning.

A president who barely edges to an EC victory, but has a huge margin in the popular vote can lay claim to a bigger mandate than a president who wins a decisive EC victory, but only squeaks by with a slight popular vote win. And of course either of those scenarios are preferable to being president without winning the popular vote.

Perception matters in presidential politics.

The thing that annoys me about the popular vote whining is that people get confused and think that if a candidate won the popular vote, than that person would have been president if we used a popular vote system to elect presidents. That is absolutely an annoying fairy tale pushed by the media.