Why isn't Hillary defending ME-02?

[Xing]

While we have limiting polling to work with (and nothing from the big name pollsters), polling out of ME-02 has generally shown Trump ahead, and it seems several analysts are considering Trump the favorite to win it. If it really is competitive and threatening to go Republican, why isn't Hillary defending it? Does her campaign consider ME-02 unimportant? Sure, it's just one electoral vote, but there are scenarios in which it would make the difference between victory for either candidate and a tie. Also, she does seem to be making a play for NE-02, which doesn't suggest that her campaign would be overlooking any EVs. Or does her internal polling tell a different story from public polling, and show her far enough ahead that it's not cause for concern?

It seems like it must be either an enormous oversight on the part of her campaign, or polling is just completely off (it isn't easy to poll CDs.)

[‼realJohnEwards‼]

Because she's wasting all of her money in Nevada, which is clearly safe D (regardless of the polls) because 28% of a population will never be outvoted by the rest.

[Pandaguineapig]

It also is only 1 ev that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, same reason why republicans aren't defending ne-2

[Maxwell]

It also is only 1 ev that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, same reason why republicans aren't defending ne-2

second this - it's only bragging rights. And Trump will really only get to brag about winning ME-2 if he actually wins the election overall.

[Xing]

Because she's wasting all of her money in Nevada, which is clearly safe D (regardless of the polls) because 28% of a population will never be outvoted by the rest.

I mean, obviously Virginia's 20% black population can't offset the majority white population which votes heavily Republican as a whole.

[Xing]

I don't think either of these maps are particularly likely, but ME-02 would make a world of difference in both.

[Ljube]

She doesn't need ME-02.

[‼realJohnEwards‼]

Because she's wasting all of her money in Nevada, which is clearly safe D (regardless of the polls) because 28% of a population will never be outvoted by the rest.

I mean, obviously Virginia's 20% black population can't offset the majority white population which votes heavily Republican as a whole.

The VA black population is more monolithic than any Hispanic population, though. Trump has more room to grow among NV whites than VA whites, according to exit polls

[cinyc]

The Omaha TV market covers part of battleground Iowa.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Clinton campaign has been doing some TV advertising there.

As for why Clinton is not defending ME-02, I don't know.  You'd have to make an ad buy in 3 relatively cheap TV markets to fully defend it, but one of those markets (Portland) has the side benefit of reaching northern New Hampshire.  Perhaps they just don't think spending even a small amount of money for 1 EV is worth it, when they can spend just double or triple and reach part of a state with 20+ EVs, like Florida.

[MT Treasurer]

second this - it's only bragging rights. And Trump will really only get to brag about winning ME-2 if he actually wins the election overall.

Nah, ME-02 is more likely to flip than WI, CO or PA.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

The obvious answer is that ME-02 is that their analytics team has data indicating that it's safe. ME-02 voted for Obama by 8 points. Assuming that Clinton is up by 3-4 points nationwide right now, and that might be overly generous to Trump, this would mean that there'd need to be a 7-8 point trend for ME-02 to be a tossup. On top of this, we'd also have to assume that ME-02 is so distinct that New Hampshire that it could trend 7-8 points to the GOP as New Hampshire keeps it same PVI. These are some wild claims.

There's not enough evidence to suggest that ME-02 is worth being concerned about...

[Erc]

I don't think either of these maps are particularly likely, but ME-02 would make a world of difference in both.

Second map just switches a tie to a Trump win; if you're Clinton you have to assume that a tie is a loss, anyway.

This leaves the first map (or swapping IA & NV on it) as the only realistic map where ME-02 makes a difference, switching a Clinton win to a tie.  Therefore, ME-02 only matters if you lose Colorado.  The Clinton camp seems to be very confident of their chances in Colorado.  If they're right (big if), then there's no realistic scenarios where ME-02 makes a difference, so why bother?