Why the waste of time and energy to dissect the Clinton campaign? We're not sadists. Do we care how someone came in second?
The real lesson here is how Barck Obama won and why?
Despite her top-heavy campaign, the short-sighted strategy, and signs of woeful mismanagement, Hillary Clinton could have easily won this and Barack Obama would have been a vicious terrier that she would have to placate after the primaries and caucuses had ended.
Barack Obama won this! How?
1.He built a ground game before he pushed an expensive advertising war. As a one time political consultant, I frequently worked with shoestring campaigns. I always told them this ---devote half your resources to GOTV until your campaign fundraising meets its fundraising goals for 2 straight months. If your reporting quarter is 25% higher than expected, you can lower your GOTV budget to one third of your resources.
Iowa was an object lesson for 2016 --- build the organization on the ground to get your work done. Caucuses are not won with great ads, smart slogans or with tetlvised interviews and debates --- you have to put up the manpower networks to succeed.
2. Obama stayed on message. Clinton did not. Michigan and Florida were signs of this. She knew she'd have the ballot game won in both states. Why play coy --- "We're Democrats with a big D and we should be democrats with a small d. I'm not sure its fair to punish voters because politicians decided to play games with the. I want our convention to be fully represented by every state" Instead she started a sideshow that that became its own nightly HRC supporter blog. If you've got 20 minutes to argue for Hillary online, email 50 friends for donations.
The Red Phone. I'm a woman. Sexism has no place is this campaign White working class people. Hispanic people don't trust Obama. Caucuses are unfair. Big states that are Blue count. McCain and I agree. That my friends is a muddled message. (I know this is an exaggeration but you need a mantra, message that lets you answer everything with a succinct answer and a return to why you are running)
Rev Wright. "He does not speak for me. I am fighting for change"
Ayers. "The guys my neighbor, I am fighting for change"
Liberal Voting record "I am fighting for change."
Will there be more controversies. Yep. Will Obama stop fighting for change. NO!
3.Obama knew the rules. Other than Mike Dukakis, no campaign I have ever seen mastered the nominating rules as well as Team Obama. Forget the caucuses, look at the primaries. He spent money to gain advantages in Congressional districts in states he was going to lose to Clinton. His strategy and money and organizations varied depending upon whether it was a caucus, a closed primary, or an open primary. The most telling moment was California though where Obma pulled away with a nice chunk of delegates despite losing the state. Obama then vetted his state convention delegates to ensure he'd get more delegates/protect his delegate count
4.Obama never let his opponents have the last word. The instant response/counter attack/call it what you will is brilliant and considering the swiftboating of John Kerry absolutely necessary. It is notable that Clinton ceased this practice when it became apparant Obama had prepared a response to any statement attacking him. He's practically bitch-slapped McCain so much that the McCain campaign all but stopped its "we're smarter than you on foreign affairs" crap
5.Fundraising. I used to do a lot of Direct Mail fundraising. It was always difficult to sell. Why ask 100,000 people for money and get break-even results when I can talk to a few wealthly liberals and get more money. Well the anmswer is you put literature, facts, arguments, white paper in the hands of supporters and potential supporters. The internet has obliterated the cost of such mailings and made internet fundraising a necessity of a successful campaign. I get e-mails from DCCC, DSCC, moveon, John Kerry, and Barack Obama constantly. I used to get a lot from Joe Biden (he was my guy at the start of all this).
6.Voter Registration. There was a guy in Pennsylvania named Andrew Henscher. He was a very active Young Democrat and he died before he was 35 so he always will be. He was into registering new voters and mobilizing them. Andrew figured it was pointless to pull people one way or another when simply increasing the size of the electorate achieved the same result and helped the entire Democratic ticket.