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Imagination Is Funny

Ben Smith quotes Mark Penn:

"It would be hard to imagine a nominee from this party who didn’t win" any of a series of big states — New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. (I'm not sure whether he mentioned California, but obviously that's on the list.)

Even leaving aside the fact that two of the states on this list had votes that don't count and three others haven't voted yet, this is another example of sheer nonsense emanating from the Clinton camp. Illinois, where Obama basically doubled Clinton's vote, is larger than Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, or Pennsylvania. Indeed, including Massachusetts on this list at all is just daffy, as Obama has already won four states (Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Washington) that are larger. What this really comes down to is Penn saying it would "be hard to imagine" a nominee who didn't win any of the scattered handful of states that his opponent won (or hopes to win). Which strikes me as a pretty clear failure of imagination.

--Christopher Orr