An interesting odd/even effect:
Although no official count was available early Wednesday, state Democratic party officials predict that Clinton will get 20 to 30 more delegates when all results are in. Because of the relatively close finish, they are likely to split delegates in most of the congressional districts with an even number of delegates, while Clinton will pick up an extra delegate in districts that offer an odd number.
So did the campaign’s know about this effect and spend more money and put in more effort in districts with an odd number of delegates? Is that even the correct strategy?
I’ve heard that they did take this into account, although not from any particularly reputable sources.
However, it’s the correct strategy if, if neither candidate made a particular effort in the given district, it would break evenly. But a four-delegate district that is “naturally” at 62% for one candidate and 38% for the other would be just as much in play.
I suspect the campaigns know this — they’ve got people whose job it is to think about this sort of thing — but the mainstream media doesn’t want to try to explain it because they believe (perhaps correctly) that people’s eyes would just glaze over.
I’ve heard from reputable sources that they definitely do think about this in their strategy.
BTW in the end I think Obama won the delegate count. I gather his team’s strategy was always about maximising the deegate count as opposed to the popular vote.
The whole damn system is crazy…