Sometimes You Just Have to Let it Roll

The Clintons liked to view themselves as being New Hampshire royalty. In 1992, Bill's second place finish propelled him to national prominence, and the nomination, on the way to the White House. In 2008, Hillary stormed back from a double-digit deficit in the closing days to win the primary and save her White House run. There's a sentimental value to it, and losing in 2016 crushes some of that.

There's not much you can do about that though, nor does it matter so much. Hillary did not lead in New Hampshire for months, and was not expected to win. One would think that means tamping down the importance of the state, yet some of her surrogates went pretty hard after Sanders and his supporters in the closing days. It was a bruising battle in the Granite State. It wasn't really necessary.

Hillary Clinton holds every advantage still in this race for the nomination. Scorching the Earth to try and win one state doesn't hold much value. The reality is that Sanders still faces an uphill climb to cut into her leads in the next few states. Certainly, Gloria Steinem's remarks don't make those odds any worse.

When this process is over, Hillary Clinton will need Bernie Sanders' voters to support her, if she is the nominee. Attacking doesn't help that cause, nor does it necessarily help much in putting away this nomination now. As crazy as it seems after two contests, Hillary is strongly positioned to still win. Sure, it's painful to lose New Hampshire, but it's not overly relevant. Hopefully she can reel in the surrogates and keep them on a more positive message, rather than worrying about small battles.