It ain't over till it's over...

...but last night, it sure looked over.

Hillary Clinton's "victory" speech in Indiana (it turned out to be the narrowest of wins, but when she was giving the speech she didn't know how it was going to end) sounded more like a concession speech, with lip service to the idea that she was going on to win the nomination and the White House, but that tossed out without confidence or enthusiasm.  Mostly, it was one of those "it's been a long struggle, and I appreciate your support, and I'll campaign for the other guy" speeches candidates give right before they officially drop out.

Early reports were that Hillary had canceled all her appearances for today, but at the last minute she added one back in, in West Virginia, which votes next Tuesday.  Apparently she also recently loaned her campaign another $6.4 million--hence her appeal for contributions at her website.  Rumor is that she'll hit Obama up to pay off her campaign's debts as part of a final deal.

At this point it looks like she'll stay in it through May 20, the day she'll win Kentucky and Obama will win Oregon, giving them each a solid victory to close the campaign on.  Then Obama will have a brief victory lap in Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico, and the party can get busy healing the rifts this campaign has caused.  If the Clintons hope to salvage anything of their once-beloved status with a lot of Democrats, especially black Democrats, they had better campaign like fiends for Obama.

It's been a long, long road.  My preferred candidate got out of it a long time ago, but both Clinton and Obama have been sounding like Edwards on the stump lately, really addressing populist issues, talking about the squeezed middle class and the poor.  His impact on the campaign has been profound, and the ultimate winner will have to put some of his ideas into the mix at the White House.

On the other side of the coin, the Arizona Republic has studied McCain's voting record long and hard and puts to bed the idea that he's some kind of maverick.  In fact, he's slightly more conservative than his fellow Arizona Republican Jon Kyl--when he bothers showing up to vote at all.  Independents and moderate Democrats need to understand before they swing to McCain that he is not one of them.  More than anything else, he's just a continuation of the right wing leadership that has failed this country so dismally for the past 7 years.

Comments

[JJ]

When I was in the hospital with pneumonia, I was so happy to watch the Illinois results come in (only candidate I've been proud to support in my adult life is Obama), granted, I was on morphine at the time, lol, but it was great to watch it come together.

My dream ticket? Obama/Edwards. Been saying that since November.I really hope Clinton's drawn out "we can still do this if we forget math and try to tell people the rules we bitched about in 2000 shouldn't matter now" politics will end soon..jj

[JJ]

I meant Iowa results, obviously....damned morphine kicks in every now and again :P

[Jeff Mariotte]

That would be a great combination. Hard to imagine Edwards running for VP twice in a row, but if asked he would probably go along with it. Either way, I hope he has a role in the new administration.