Obama Wins Washington State, Nebraska Caucuses By Wide Margins

There is something to be said about a caucus. It is small, undemocratic series of gathering where the loudest voices often prevail. It is also somewhat embarrassing that one of the two major candidates has refused to participate in them, in effect ceding their delegates to Barack Obama. Indeed, the Clinton campaign brags about how little it did:

The Obama campaign has dramatically outspent our campaign in these three states, saturating the airwaves with 30 and 60 second ads. The Obama campaign has spent $300,000 more in Louisiana on television ads, $190,000 more in Nebraska and $175,000 more in Nebraska.

(Ordinarily, this would be a firing offense -- how dare they let a state go uncontested?)

Yes, the strategic imperative to conserve resources for the larger states may turn out to be the categorical imperative. Though Clinton can't win the small states (unless she controls the machine -- think Nevada), Obama cannot win the states where the majority of Democrats reside. (New Jersey, remember, didn't turn out to be that close.)

John McCain's advisers are probably thinking: woe unto the Democratic nominee who refuses to organize; woe unto the Democratic nominee who appeals to activists perfectly and regular Democrats kinda sorta.