Clinton on the Sweep
Here's Hillary Clinton's take on getting shut out over the weekend:
She said she never expected to do well in any of those contests, even though she had been favored to win Maine. Clinton repeated her criticism that the caucus system is undemocratic and caters mostly to party activists.
As for Louisiana, "You had a very strong and very proud African- American electorate, which I totally respect and understand," Clinton said.
It's worth noting that there was a time -- a time called "2007" -- when Clinton was expecting to hold her own among African-Americans. Not necessarily win the black vote, but do well enough to get by. For a contrast, women were a majority of participants in every single Democratic primary and caucus, so every time Obama won he had to stay at least somewhat competitive within the women sub-sample. For Clinton, that kind of performance among African-Americans now seems out of reach, but it wasn't ever thus. Similarly, the idea that caucuses are unfairly disadvantaging the establishment candidate would have struck most people as very odd before the voting began. The truth seems to be that Clinton simply spent more money on consultants and less on organizers, and a paucity of organizers can hurt you badly in a caucus.