I think you are right. Of course, this is a typical liberal attack on federalism and the constitution, but in this case it would benefit conservatives occasionally. If not for the early call of Florida, for example, G. W. Bush would have won the popular vote, and thus would have carried CA, making it not close at all.
I still do not understand why they say Gore won the popular vote. Recounts done by the media over and over gain show Bush won not by a large number of votes but he did get more votes than Gore so wouldn’t Bush have the popular vote?
Federalism concerns the allocation of power between state governments and the national government. The National Popular Vote bill concerns how votes are tallied, not how much power state governments possess relative to the national government. The powers of state governments are neither increased nor decreased based on whether presidential electors are selected along the state boundary lines, along district lines (as has been the case in Maine and Nebraska), or national lines.