contrapositive

NAGOURNEY ABDICATES Witness:

Thus, the big question is how much attention to pay to the results map on television--lighted up with, say, states that have swung to Senator John McCain's column--and how much attention to pay to the delegate counter. The answer is pay attention to both, though put somewhat more focus on states for the Republicans and put somewhat more on delegates for the Democrats. The delegate count might matter more officially, but the state results could count more politically, and that will be the central tension of the night.

Nagourney has a seat--a big seat--at the table when it comes to determining what "could count more politically."

But instead of using that seat to trumpet the truth, he hews to a fuzzy, sloppy pundit consensus.

So let's be clear: Delegates are the only thing that matters. And so the only way for state results to have an impact is if they wind up influencing delegate totals.

The most likely way for that to happen, of course, is if lazy reporters mischaracterize the situation in way that distorts the races and ultimately influences results.

In his article, Nagourney has already done what he could toward that tend.