Drag out all of the old cliches.  Stick a fork in  her, she's done.  The party's over...etc., etc.  Barack Obama virtually sealed the nomination last night with a big win in North Carolina and a near-miss in Indiana.  Yes, Hillary Clinton ended up winning in Indiana but split with Obama in number of delegates won.  It was not the resounding victory she needed to continue making the case that Obama's questionable ties and inexperience make him unelectable. Obama is now within 200 delegates of clinching the nomination and there are only 217 left in the remaining contests.  The showing also is expected to dissuade super delegates from declaring for Hillary. 

Clinton may stay in the race, but she will be hard pressed to show how she can overtake Obama and make her critical case to the uncommitted super delegates.  Obama could reach a majority of pledged delegates in two weeks, when Kentucky and Oregon vote. She also is losing the popular vote argument, as Obama now has 700,000 more votes and remains ahead in the popular vote even if Michigan and Florida are counted. 

As for the super delegates, of the 800 who will attend the national convention, about 220 remain uncommitted with another 50 to be determined in state party conventions upcoming.  Obama has argued that the supers should vote for whichever candidate has the most pledged delegates, while Clinton says the super should back the person they believe would be the best nominee and president.

But now the pundit class has turned on Clinton, convinced there is no way she can now win the nomination.  Tim Russert on MSNBC last night started the ball rolling, declaring the race is over and Obama will be the nominee.  The blogosphere is full of bells tolling. 

Obama rediscovered his voice in his victory speech, sounding very much like the nominee trying to heal the party and launch the fall campaign against John McCain. Gone was the tired rhetoric of the Pennsylvania primary night. 

Perhaps realizing the gravity of her situation, Clinton was also more conciliatory, though she gave no indication that she's throwing in the towel. She remained upbeat, but the glum faces of Bill and Chelsea standing behind her told the real story.  She needed a game-changer, a shocker, a tie-breaker, and she didn't get it.

Democrats now will have a hard time denying their first viable black candidate and potential president the nomination.  To do so is an invitation to a revolt among the party's most reliable voting bloc and a disrupted national convention. If Clinton were to overtake him with super delegates, her candidacy would be marred by charges of back-room politics and Billary shenanigans.

The problem for Democrats is just what the recent Rasmussen poll showed in Texas: one-third of those who voted for Obama say they won't support Hillary in November, and one-third of those who voted for Clinton say they won't support Obama.  Democrats urgently need to draw both forces together and to capitalize on a campaign that has been the most exciting and brought in the most new voters in decades.

I previously thought there was no way that these two uber egos could join together and run on the same ticket.  I now think it may be the only way Democrats can keep from losing the election because of a mass defection of moderates to John McCain or a mass black voter boycott.

Clinton likely will stay in the race and continue to hope for a miracle that probably won't come.  More conciliatory statements from both of them, however, may indicate a realistic possibility of their acceptance of the fact that divided they fall and combined they win.  The Kennedy-Johnson combo wasn't a match made in heaven, either, but it was a winning ticket. 

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