As We Bid Farewell, Let's Not Forget the Facts

I note the stunned reactions of those who watched Senator Clinton's stunning speech last night, and I'm not at all stunned.

Not by the depth and breadth of Hillary Clinton's intelligence, competence, and magic; nor by the media's bewilderment at those qualities. She's never been given her due and we can all argue about the reasons why, but chief among them, in my book, is her gender.

But that's not the focus of this blog. Before the one candidate for president who could have truly pulled us back from the brink slips out of our grasp, I'd like, one last time, to remind everyone of the principal reason why she's not being nominated tonight.

The caucuses. And the mangling of them.

By their nature, they're unrepresentative but a smart tactician (or campaign) could game the system with knowledge, numbers and strategies set in place at each location. And that's exactly what Senator Clinton's opponent did. With the eager aid of the Fourth Estate, Senator Obama gloriously gamed the flawed system.

His campaign knew that those who could spend the rigorous hours of daylight at the caucuses could largely be targeted as the young, male, college-educated. Hmmm. Those aren't the segments of population that are likely to favor Senator Clinton...

So his campaign expounded on that fact and then pulled out the dirty deeds. They bussed people in to the caucuses. They locked others out. They bullied the Clinton delegates and told them to go to the wrong rooms. They ran out of ballots...too many standing for Clinton? Imagine that!

Then, a funny thing happened on the way to state...Clinton delegates were often intimidated and sent letters with reasons why they shouldn't attend. So lots didn't. But the Obama delegates did, so numbers out of counties that looked like this—13 for Obama, 12 for Clinton—became this at the state level—14 for Obama, 11 for Clinton.

Another funny thing happened on the way to national...out of Iowa, there were 15 Clinton delegates, 16 Obama delegates, and 14 Edwards delegates. When the counts went national, magically, Obama had 25, having been given 10 of Edwards, while Clinton lost one.

Finally, two interesting facts: Senator Obama won 13 of 14 caucuses. He lost 21 of 28 primaries. Fascinating thing that when people could step up to the voting machine and cast private, safe ballots...they chose Senator Clinton.

Senator Clinton, you are stunning. Your courage and determination are surpassed only by the strength and grace with which you've gifted us at the close. I'm not surprised, but I'm proud.

Live to fight another day.