What I don't understand is why Hillary Clinton didn't protest the disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan before the candidates agreed not to participate. Why did she sign that agreement at all? It was clearly not in her interest. If she'd protested early, she'd be in much better shape now, her opponents would have a much harder time painting her actions as a naked grab to fix the game in her favor, and there would have been a better chance of her actually succeeding in having Michigan and Florida delegates counted.

I can only think of two possibilities. On the one hand, maybe she just thought she had the election in the bag. Maybe she though she could win the nomination without those two states, and there was no point in raising a stink. Pride goeth before a fall.

The other possibility is she didn't believe the DNC penalty would stick. She assumed she'd get the delegates, even with Obama not on the ballot in one state, and was happy with the advantage of reaping the delegates without to campaign.