Growing up a stone's throw (okay, 75 miles) from West Virginia, it was impossible to be unaware of its overwhelmingly caucasian, blue collar demographics. Being awake during the primaries, it is impossible to be unaware that Clinton does well among said demographic. Being possessed of a sliver of common sense, it was impossible to not foresee that she would trounce Obama in the Mountain State.

As is typical in a blowout, Clinton won big or gained ground in just about every category. The old, the young, educated, the uneducated, the rich, the poor, protestants...

...But not Catholics. Crazy, huh? Her 57-41 lead among them fell between her Indiana and North Carolina margins last week and lagged significantly behind her overall 67-26 thumping. This of course does not mean she has a Catholic problem. She's won Catholics in 9 of the 12 contests with exit polls since Super Tuesday, and she narrowly lost two of the other three. (Her greatest loss was by 8 points in Louisiana.)

It's all rather random, but the closest thing to a pattern is that Clinton has enjoyed her greatest Catholic advantages in large states with high percentages of Catholics. Most of Obama's strongest showings have been in smaller states with high Catholic density, such as 35-percent-Catholic Louisiana, 20-percent-Catholic Vermont and 22-percent Maryland. And states with small Catholic populations adhere to no pattern. Perhaps there is no Catholic vote after all.