Abe, I suspect that this result is a big deal — though, to be honest, given the nature of this election, who knows? Here’s the case for it being a big deal.

Given that Obama received the endorsement of a key union, and that Hillary failed in her effort to block caucus meetings inside casinos (which was designed to help that union’s workers participate), her victory suggests she is far from a weak reed in the Democratic party. Obama needs her to be a weak reed so that his vaunted winds of change can blow her down. The fact that he received crucial institutional support from a working-class union and still was unable to prevail has to count for something. After all, no human being has ever quite gotten the kind of worshipful press he has received in the past three weeks.