Why hasn't Bernie easily won Massachusetts?

[redstateblues]

It's In his back yard. Surprising.

[virtualobserver]

1. It is in Hillary's back yard

[TheBlackAdder]

13. Kennedy's - Joseph Kennedy III was canvasing for HRC in NH a few weeks back, and in MA now. nt

[virtualobserver]

19. also,in 2008 Hillary won 56-40 over Obama, and Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama

[bigwillq]

2. Because it's in Hillary's backyard

Damn geography.

[redstateblues]

7. New England is Bernie's turf

[Blue_Adept]

10. New England is not a monolithic bloc

Each state is hugely different from the other. MA in particular is crazily different from the other states just by the diversity of college/influx of those that stay afterward combined with the western part of the state.

[yourout]

3. Hey...my 11th ignore for the night. A new record.

[saltpoint]

4. New York also borders Massachusetts.

Mrs. Clinton was a U.S. Senator from New York.

A back yard is a back yard is a back yard.

[noretreatnosurrender]

5. That's All You Got?

[misterhighwasted]

6. They don't like him

They like her more.
Simple.

[Codeine]

8. To be fair, it's the backyard of both candidates.

The demographics and general political lean favor Sanders, and I still think he's gonna squeak out a win (while secretly hoping she can pull it out), but it's gonna be a very minor delegate grab for his campaign.

[VulgarPoet]

11. Not even bothering...

[Todays_Illusion]

12. It is tribal, the Irish prefer HC ove Sanders and they voted for her in 2008 as well but because

another preference.

[Onlooker]

14. Lots of reasons

Massachusetts has a powerful mainstream Democratic Party, it's about 20% people of color, has a lot of gays, has one of the higher average ages, and still has a pretty strong feminist movement. It's not an ideal state for a guy like Bernie, whose base is young white straights.

[yardwork]

45. That's helpful and interesting. Thanks.

[Bad Thoughts]

15. Vermont broadcasts no media into MA

The "backyard" argument only works when the state from which the candidate comes has wealth and media power, which creates greater familiarity with the politicians of that state. Vermont media has no power in MA, like it has no power in NH. If Sanders were from Massachusetts, the story would be different.

[MADem]

23. Bernie's ads, aimed at NH (and MA) have been airing out of Boston from jump.

He's been well advertised in the state.

It's a pretty close split, but it looks like HRC just pulled it out by a point or two. It's a good win for her. He'll get something out of it too, just not bragging rights.

[Hortensis]

26. Good point. Geography is multi-faceted.

I'm not from up there, so I appreciate the insight.

[Bad Thoughts]

39. I lived in MA for 12 years and helped campaign in NH

The influence on New England mostly works one way, with Boston media dominating the airwaves and people from MA staffing many campaign offices.

[Hortensis]

40. Umhm. I believe it. Urban centers have lots of influences.

Likely a restaurant or shop located down an empty road in the direction of Boston would do better than one the other way up a pretty drive to nowhere in particular too. Doesn't matter that people have no intention of continuing on to the distant city. The magnetism comes from that direction.

[thesquanderer]

41. I think the backyard argument has more to do with familiarity and name recognition.

But when your opponent happens to be Hillary Clinton, there's no advantage to be had there, she's well-known everywhere. That's why I didn't think much of the argument that NH was friendly to Sanders because they're next to VT.

[jeff47]

16. Uh...NY shares a border with MA too.

If you're going to make "backyard" claims, you should probably know a bit about geography.

[Avalux]

17. Look at a map. n/t

[bklyncowgirl]

18. It's also Hillary's back yard. NY borders the state.

[MADem]

24. Bernie did well in western Ma (which borders NY and VT).

However, that area is not as thickly settled as the center and coastal areas. He did well on the Cape, but she did well in the population centers. She won Boston, decisively, and that was a big win.

[ChiciB1]

20. It May Have Something To Do With Bill Clinton's Visits To

polling stations today! There are posts here showing him with a BULL HORN doing what he does! And it was at more than one place. I've tried not to think what's been own my head for a long time, but I have no doubt that there's been a lot more crap that's been going on in the Hillary campaign than I thought.

Disgusting! And to think people here actually think it's fine! That's even MORE of an outrage!

Think what you want, but if it was Bernie's side doing this I would be just as outraged!

I'm afraid we will be paying a huge price for what's happening in this country. It's been building for so long now, I wonder when it will blow. I'm now more afraid than I've ever been.

[Hortensis]

30. ChiciB1, instead of reading the calm around you as

indisputable proof of corruption in everyone around, maybe reexamine your assumptions?

[Schema Thing]

21. Whitey Bulger still has too much influence?

[aidbo]

22. Why didn't Hillary easily win Oklahoma?

It borders Arkansas, the state she was First Lady of.

[Third Doctor]

25. That's a good question.

[redstateblues]

29. Maybe they don't like New Yorkers

[Bjornsdotter]

27. Why is the NYT

...not calling it for Hillary? Why are they waiting?

[redstateblues]

35. Hillary's upset win Mass is a lot bigger deal than

Bernie's expected winning OK.

[Bjornsdotter]

37. Nice non-answer

....Still not called by the NYT.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. They have, 50 to 49

boy that was close

[jillan]

28. So is New York! LOL. Go look at a map!

[redstateblues]

31. New York is part of Bernie's New England?

news to me

[jillan]

34. Go look at a map! Mass borders New York to the west.

[karynnj]

32. Look at a map - it's next door to NY too

More importantly, she had nearly the entire MA Democratic party, with the notable exception of Warren, endorsing her - as well as the Boston Globe. You might note that she did less well than she did in 2008 against Obama - and he had Kerry and Kennedy supporting him.

It looks like the result will be extremely close meaning very little difference in delegates.

One thing good for Sanders is that most of the deep south states are done. It will be interesting to see if Colorado is a harbinger of the Northwestern states.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. Because of Bill blocking polling places

[madfloridian]

36. It's Hillary's backyard and Bill Clinton campaigned for her there.

[WillyT]

38. Because This Is A Bullshit Question... Because Bernie Was Down 60 + Points A Year Ago...

And because you know all that and are all up in Hillary's business.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. You would do good to look at the 2008 primaries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Tuesday,_2008

[Autumn]

44. Because New York is on the other side of the world? That would be my guess

[smiley]

46. For 20 seconds in my world he was the winner of Mass....

I was watching real time results on google and they were reporting Sanders as the official winner. By the time I posted the link here at DU the winner was switched to Clinton. Google wasn't predicting a winner they were displaying who the official winner was. The NY times and the AP both declared Sander winning Mass too. What happened in that brief one minute window that made the major media outlets to declare Sanders of Massachusetts?