The Clinton campaign has a new strategy memo out today which asserts that
Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date, have their doubts about Senator Obama....
Leave aside the "doubts" for now. I was wondering how the Clinton campaign could assert that Hillary has won a "majority of [Democrats]." Obama leads handily in the popular vote count, after all, even if you include Florida (and even adding her 328,000 votes in Michigan, where Obama wasn't on the ballot).
I was writing an email to a Clinton spokesman asking what I might be missing when it hit me. The key word is "primary contests." So, once again, the caucuses don't count.
I see what the Clintonites are driving at here. But I think the horse has already left that barn. Complaining about caucuses now just sounds to me like sore-loserdom.
Not to mention that I recall Hillary was pretty pleased after winning the Nevada caucuses (as measured by percentages, at least).
Update: Or maybe the campaign is only counting Democratic identifiers, based on exits polls--not counting independents who vote in open primaries (thanks to Mark Blumenthal and Alex Massie). Indeed I'm pretty confident that's it because I've heard that case before. But they hate caucuses anyway!
--Michael Crowley