Maine was a state where many thought the demographics were in Clinton’s favor, but Obama still is winning by a landslide. Women voters were expected by some to give Clinton an advantage in the state. Back in October, Clinton was leading by a 47 to 10 margin. The Politico reports on the upset:
Obama’s victory comes despite being down in all four polls of the state, and despite his loss in the primary in neighboring Massachusetts. Clinton had been thought to have a strong shot at winning in Maine, whose demographics — largely white, heavily working-class — are those that have typically favored her. She also had the support of the state’s governor, John Baldacci, and of his organization.
Matthew Yglesias predicts the Clinton spin:
My understanding, though, is that this doesn’t really count because it’s a small state, much as Utah doesn’t count because there aren’t many Democrats there, DC doesn’t count because there are too many black people, Washington doesn’t count because it’s a caucus, Illinois doesn’t count because Obama represents it in the Senate even though Hillary was born there, Hawaii won’t count because Obama was born there. I’m not sure why Delaware and Connecticut don’t count, but they definitely don’t.
Realistically, Clinton seems to have difficulty winning anywhere she can’t mobilize racial polarization in her favor. Obama has, of course, deployed polarization to his benefit in a number of states (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana most notably) but he’s also dominated the states with very few black voters.
UPDATE: I forgot about Missouri. Obama’s win in Missouri, of course, doesn’t count because the state was called too late.
Even before these results were reported, the Clinton campaign knew it was in serious trouble after Saturday’s losses, with several more losses anticipated in the upcoming contests. Some described the campaign as being in a state of panic. Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams following yesterday’s four big losses. After all the mistakes the Clinton campaign has made, I doubt that a change in personnel will make a difference. The biggest mistake of all was adopting Rove-style tactics, which says as much about Clinton’s own ethical principles as the advice of her staff. Once she has exposed herself as being morally unfit for the office of president there is no amount of adjustments to a campaign staff which can repair this damage.