campaign in the 3 blue midwestern states it would have overcome it .

Her closing strategy was awful.

Because the election turned on traditionally blue PA and Midwestern states (though WI has become pretty tricky for us to win in lately), I blame the lack of a strong populist message the most. It was an outsider's election. Other factors were Comey, the media, voter suppression, racism, low favorability for Clinton - it all became a terrible "perfect storm" and the People's President didn't get the win.

to pro free trade , pro business traditional romney type republicans like johnson and portman.

and Johnson and Portman did better than Trump.

if Clinton did better. There's no doubt in my mind it was a big factor. You even said she should have campaigned there more.

Some of those people may have voted Johnson instead of Trump. But if Clinton got more votes, it would have definiteiy had an an effect.

against that.

Read my post carefully. I also edited.

I think some Republicans didn't like other aspects of Trump's message and either voted 3rd party or left that part blank. I know Clinton lost a couple usually blue counties in PA due to the working class being fooled yet again. It's really sad.

Interesting discussion.

Was the number one factor is directly contradicted by the fact Democrats with those views received fewer votes than Clinton. Data does matter if the goal is to learn for future elections rather than simply confirm what one wants to be true.

I do think we need a more populist message, but I think it is also obvious Clinton would have gotten more votes with it in the states she needed. It is not only free trade. It was a general worry about jobs and not being very well off. They put their trust in the wrong person.

statement that TPP was the gold standard. Bad trade deals are killing the Democratic party.

His timing sure was great. Our press ate it all up and wouldn't shut up about it. When this happened experts like Nate Silver were saying it could cost her 1-2 points at most.
Well, turns out she couldn't afford to lose 2 points. Three states where she lost by one point or less would have won the election.

Whenever a Dem wins a state, the explanation is there are so many people in the metropolitan areas. But magically, Trump is declared winner and the new explanation is there were too many people in outstate counties. Both can't be true.

And ballot access.

Was there any trick they didn't pull?

controlled Senate and House as well as the vast majority of Republican-controlled Governorships and state legislatures. Can't blame one person on this tidal wave. That would be unfair IMO.

behavior on the Left, voter suppression efforts, gerrymandering, Right wing media pedaling hate and racial animus, lack of public interest with fact finding, generational shift in world economic balance......the list goes on and on.

Though I forced myself to pick what I believe was the most influential.

It was the Repug Party that gridlocked Congress and the President. It was the Repugs that gave us wars and a recession.

The Dems didn't campaign on these issues - they campaign against Trump - the personality.

So the Repug Party floated through the campaign unscathed and didn't shoulder any of the blame.

Trump blamed the lack of anything getting done on the establishment Dems and the President and then he painted Hillary as 4 more years of the establishment.

In hindsight - they should have went after the Repug Party.

Kaine should have gone after Pence instead of Trump in the debate. The pardon, the abortion laws, etc. Lots of issues that might have helped. I think lots of people voted for President Pence. No one is aware that he was one of the strongest backers of the Iraq invasion including arguing on the House floor long after it had become obvious that it was an epic disaster. He was also a big supporter of NAFTA updates.

To know the real failure we would have to know the campaign's overall strategy. They sure seem to have believed they had it in the bag and were even going to take Congress. They did not protect their base, but we don't know what was their idea of base. Arrogance or misinformation? I think those that ran the campaign know, but are unlikely to share the truth with us. More importantly is the question of the lesson learned. Will we ever learn the truth from the professionals who have their self-preservation in mind?

There's no inherent contradiction, for example, between recognizing that racism and sexism played a role and be;ieving that the insistence on leaving wiggle-room on TPP also played a major role.

Most of those who prioritize social justice and to fight bigotry also want us to be clear that we will stand up to corporate power, and virtually all of those who prioritize economic justice are deeply committed to fighting social oppression and bigotry.

And our chances of regaining the presidency, Congress AND, most importantly in the short-term control of state legislatures hinge on reconciling and establishing trust between both justice struggles-neither of which benefits from the other being set aside.

This is one of those things. But I think the one that jumps out most glaringly was Comey dropping that thing 11 days before the election, in a major break with policy and precedence.

I would add that, in terms of vote hacking and the like- I find it incredibly odd how off the polls- all of them- were. It strikes me as too glaring a difference to write off without demanding some serious questions as to what the fuck happened, there.

But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and it's way too easy for the losing side to go "it was rigged". Without at least some objective evidence I personally can't fall back on that as an explanation.

I do have concerns based on what I've read, but I'm not prepared to make the charge without far more compelling evidence.

For a first time, and he'd have lost.

Too much outside interference.

Hillary clearly had "some" kind of lead until the FBI stepped in, then on top of that you of course had the obligatory voter suppression/voter disenfranchisement before and of course during the day of voting. Then, you add a NEW GOP friend to the mix: The Russians, who our government said definitely interfered/hacked it's way into our elections.

tRump said the election was rigged against him...
BUT ...

He's a MASTER of projection

But we may still have been robbed. Again.

That, and like you say many of the above factors too.

She WON except for the fact that she ran up the score with "worthless" voters (folks in CA, NY, WA). Which is the most ridiculously unfair "system" on the planet.

She lost the presidency, not the election. Ask Al Gore how that goes.

...Hillary Clinton won the GE. She lost the electoral college due to Trump stirring up racism.

on stripping the VRA and redistricting finally arrived in this election.

doesn't make your case very well.....

And using the perennial RW lies to support your position is automatic disqualification.

Here are the results of a poll of Clinton supporters pointing out Hillary's flaws:

All those "issues" originated as RW propaganda, and are thus false.

Comey
Not ready for female POTUS
Voter suppression/intimidation
SCOTUS Voting Rights Act
25 years of attacks/trustworthiness
GOP stuck with emails throughout
GOTV

That's obvious.

The system is crazy.

And we went for Clinton.