WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has found a lot of ways to explain her string of losses to Sen. Barack Obama. She's going to have to come up with yet another excuse for losing Virginia Tuesday night.

Obama prevailed by a 2-to-1 margin in the state based on exit surveys. He was also expected to win primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, after sweeping four states plus the Virgin Islands this past weekend.

It's been a weekly challenge for Clinton, once the "inevitable" front-runner, to justify her losses.

Caucus states, the former first lady says, are undemocratic and cater only to party activists. Southern states, like Louisiana, have "a very strong and very proud African-American electorate" naturally predisposed to favor a black candidate.

And so-called "red" states like North Dakota, Idaho and Kansas — all of which Obama won on Super Tuesday — will never choose a Democrat in the general election anyway.

By this logic, only certain states really matter, such as New Hampshire and New Jersey, states that Clinton has won. Or Texas and Ohio, states she must capture to stay in the race.

The list of excuses is long, but the justifications are wearing thin. One by one, all the contests Clinton has suggested don't count are proving in size and scope that they do.
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