Better Spin Please

One point I’ll make on the spin tonight. The idea that Obama’s not winning Massachusetts is a big upset is simply ridiculous. In our poll tracker, we have six polls of the Massachusetts race going back to January 17th. One of those had Obama ahead, and that was by two points, though admittedly it was one of the most recent. Yes, he had both senators behind him as well as the governor. But Obama also went from being behind by something like two to one margin a couple weeks ago to a much closer race. What’s true is that there were a slew of states — Massachusetts, New Jersey and California come to mind. Had Obama been able to grab one of those, it would have been a big punch for him. It would have been really bad for Hillary. And it really would have defined the night. But he wasn’t able to pull it off. Seems like he kind of did in Missouri. But that’s not quite in the same category. In any case, there’s a ton of spin from both sides right now, especially furious since this was so close in so many ways. But the Obama had to win Massachusetts line is just silly.