This diary is about ice cream, cake and the current election. Stick around to find out what the relevance is...
Every single pundit on TV and in the media is committing the identical error when they interpret the results of various primaries and caucuses. After each contest, exit polls are examined to determine who is "winning" and "losing" various demographics, with each camp using its own metrics.
Looking at the world through the patented Mark Penn microtargeted lens, Clinton partisans speciously argue that Obama is being "rejected" by certain types of voters -- older voters, Catholics, "lunchbucket" Democrats (isn't that phrase itself incredibly condescending?), etc. Meanwhile, the Obama camp tries to promote a colder, more comparative interpretation, noting that Obama has improved his standing among those demographics, and pointing out others where Clinton is "losing" voters -- for example, among youth and other independent-minded new voters.
And of course the mainstream media dutifully accepts and parrots this framing -- viewing the race through this lens of winning and losing demographics -- though its premise is entirely bogus. How so? I'll tell you after the jump...