I do agree it's a mistake.  Although which is a bigger mistake getting to fewer places or taking no questions, I'm not sure.  I think the real mistake was made earlier in the primary season when she wasn't getting out and holding smaller events and taking questions there.   They seemed to think that press from larger events would carry them through and that didn't happen.   If they hadn't made that first mistake, they wouldn't have to rush around now.

Each of the candidates have made what could be critical mistakes, IMO.  Edwards going personally negative on Clinton, Obama failing to take Edwards seriously enough, and Clinton not really understanding Iowa.   The question is do these balance each other out or will one of these mistakes cost someone the necessary delegates to win.

On a lighter Clinton note, I found this Onion editorial on her ambition hilarious.   From it:

Sen. Clinton always wants to be throwing her opinion around about this bill or that law. I saw her on Meet The Press  just last week. Every time Tim Russert would take her to task on one issue or another, she'd come right back at him with some sort of smart answer. She needs to learn that sometimes you need to just accept your place; it's not polite to always act like you know things. Not to mention the fact that, as a working woman, she should take those precious Sundays to spend some time with her family, not to meet with the press on national television.

I'm not saying this as a criticism of BTD at all, but I really do think this is one more demonstration about anti-Hillary media bias.  If even BTD can get fooled into thinking that this is something that Hillary does and Obama doesn't do, it shows how pernicious the anti-Hillary-at-all-costs MSM narrative is.

Obama concluded his normal remarks by saying he would take three questions, and he wanted the questions to be from undecided voters.

The first question came from a young woman who began the question sounding like a Valley Girl...The second question from an audience member addressed the penal system and the United States' position as Number One in incarcerated prisoners....The third question was "How are you going to better the Special Education program?"...A fourth and final question was: "All candidates are talking about the middle class. How am I really going to be helped?"

I attended the Obama appearance Sunday at Newton High School that joejoejoe wrote about.  The 26 year old woman who asked the question about special education remained standing during Obama's answer, he answered her directly, and the staffer with the microphone handed it down to the questioner for a followup.  Obama heard her out, encouraged her efforts to improve her education, and gave her normal midwestern courtesy.  

Of course, the lights and cameras were on, Tim Russert and other reporters watching, but Obama handled it about as perfectly as could be done, and gave a coherent answer that responded to the questioner and gave good information to everyone else.