Matt Lauer gets first access to Hillary Clinton this morning on Today, so he gets to ask Hillary to respond to the New York Times’ editorial blaming her for the negativity. He also pressed her on the exit polls showing 67% of Pennsylvania voters think she attacked Barack Obama unfairly. She points out the obvious — 55% of Pennsylvania voters still supported her over Obama:

It’s almost a pitch-perfect response. She does sound an odd note by blaming Obama for running negative ads after the debate in almost the same breath in which she defends her own advertising as part of the normal electoral process, but her answer to the Gray Lady has the elegance of the obvious. If people keep voting for her more than they do for Obama, why should she stop?

Also, the Clintons are now going to press the “popular vote” argument, which she outlines deftly here. She has surpassed Obama, as Don Surber noted, if Michigan and Florida count — and she tells Lauer that the votes are official, even if Democrats decline to assign delegates based on the results. Team Obama, which sang the “popular vote” song themselves until just recently, may have to start arguing against the popular vote as a deciding factor, and that should be very interesting to watch.