Democratic polls showed that voters were split almost evenly on the question of which candidates' economic policies would help them the most. But even though the economy is better than four years ago, surveys showed that a wide range of voters had more confidence in President Barack Obama on this score than in Clinton this time.

My theory, based only in part on data and a few interviews, is that late-breaking voters, as the exit polls suggested, went for Donald Trump, despite their doubts about his abilities and character. Clinton wasn't giving them much reason to believe things would change, so they decided to roll the dice -- Trump probably wasn't going to win anyway.

The Clinton team, including the candidate herself, insists the outcome would been different had FBI Director James Comey not intervened by raising potential issues involving her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state.

Yet the lack of a coherent compelling economic message was a bigger deal. That's not just Monday morning quarterbacking by the likes of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. In October, Bill Clinton railed to friends about this danger -- the failure to connect with voters in less urban and working-class areas. The former president was viewed as a relic by some in the campaign.