“I think for superdelegates, the quality of where the win comes from should matter in terms of making a judgment about who might be the best general election candidate,” said Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton’s senior campaign adviser.
So I guess Barack Obama's 30 point win in Virginia, a state with 13 Electoral Votes, is not "quality" in terms of the general election. Let's be honest, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, she will not win Virginia and likely not contest it if she listens to the advisers who have led her to precarious position so far. And let's recall what the last Clinton Administration meant for the Democratic Party in Virginia. When Bill and Hillary took office in 1993, Virginia had a Democratic Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. Mary Sue Terry had a 20-30 point lead in her race for Governor. Democrat Chuck Robb was in the middle of his first term after being elected in 1988 with 70%+ of the vote, Democrats held 8 of the state's 11 congressional districts, and controlled both houses of the state legislature.
By the time he left office in 2001, Virginia Republicans held all statewide elected offices, both US Senate seats, 8 of the 11 US House seats, and controlled the legislature. Granted not all of this was the fault of the Clintons and were partly the result of blunders by leaders in the state and longer terms Republican trends operating in the south, but whatever brand of Democratic centrism they were peddling at the time did not resonate in Virginia.
Since 2001, as we all know, we have repaired the damage of the 1990s rot and are in position to win back the second US Senate seat, pick up 2-3 US House seats, and win Virginia on the presidential side for the first time since 1964. The candidate Virginia chose, Barack Obama, won by 30 points in a race where turnout increased 300% from 2004. What about that is not "quality"? It's clear there is only one Democratic candidate who will continue the movement towards a Democratic Virginia, and one who will kill all the progress made in the last 7 years. Winning in New York and California are not as "quality" of a win than what Obama did in Virginia and will do this fall.