We could tell something was up when, in a conference call Tuesday afternoon, Howard Wolfson -- the communications director for Hillary Clinton's campaign -- kept emphasizing that he considered Massachusetts a must win for Barack Obama. Well, it looks like Wolfson had a very good reason he wanted to make sure reporters thought of the state that way: Clinton seems to have won in Massachusetts.
As various media outlets started calling the state for Clinton (CNN had yet to make the call as of this post, but NBC, Fox News and NPR, among others, have), her campaign was quick to jump on the news. In an e-mail, the campaign termed Massachusetts the "upset of the night" and wrote, "Despite the fact that Obama visited Massachusetts just last night, Hillary Clinton won the state. This is a strong victory and shows that Hillary Clinton has strength in places where Barack Obama was expected to win."
And sure, the Clinton campaign is doing its best to make hay of this, but it has a point -- this was a state the Obama campaign put a solid effort into, and had several high-profile endorsements from. Massachusetts' governor and both of its senators had endorsed Obama and campaigned with him.
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