Day Forth-two, April 7

So the day after the potential tie-breaker primary in Indiana, it turns out that Hillary actually did win--albeit very narrowly--and kept some hope alive for her supporters. But will that slim margin of victory be enough to sustain a credible run for the presidency? If you picked up virtually any newspaper in the country today, the answer is 'no'.

Take today's Rocky Mountain News for example, and Mike Littwin's (largely editorial) feature, "Say 'Hil-la-ry' with a straight face'. Written from the floor where Hillary gave her victory speech in Indianapolis last night, Littwin sums up just what kind of death knell such a close primary race could spell for Clinton. After describing that smile that just won't quit on Hillary's face, Littwin turns to the cold reality at hand, writing, "the entire basis for the Clinton candidacy at this point - late, late in the campaign - is to continue making the argument to superdelegates that Barack Obama can't win and that they must therefore turn to a smiling Clinton, the happy warrior." And, while biased, he's got a point that's hard to bat down here; the sun appears to be setting on Senator Clinton's bid for the presidency. After squeaking ahead in the last 'upset' state she had left, and with the next-biggest primary being Oregon's election next week (65 delegates at stake there, as opposed to the 134 up for grabs in North Carolina yesterday), Hillary's on her last leg of the race, and losing wind at a sharp pace. A 2% margin of victory in a state as important as Indiana isn't much to brag about, and as Littberg summizes, "at this point a subpar day for Clinton is devastating enough."

In spite of a hard-fought victory in Indiana (and largely because of the less-reported 14-point loss in North Carolina on the same day), Senator Clinton's ship of popularity and believability is sinking fast. This is, of course, welcome news to Obama's supporters, and countless talking heads and bloggers are already predicting that Hillary will beckon rationality's call and withdrawal her bid within the next two weeks (google 'Obama+pundit' to get an idea how much the race has changed in the last 24 hours). The even better news, however, is that Obama appears to be taking his gains with grace, and maybe even a grain of salt. As reported in this blog by Leonard Doyle on the Independent.co.uk website, Obama is calling for an end to the race with Clinton, but seems ready to wait it out, if that's what it takes to seal the nomination proper. "We have a clear path to victory," he said. "But now is the time for each one of us to step up and do what we can to close out this primary." (from the article) Doyle then went on to suggest how Obama's success in yesterday's primaries are proof of his resilience in the face of dirty politics and controversy, and his refusal to pander to voters by standing up to the 'gas tax holiday' proposal. Last night, in his address to supporters in Raleigh, NC "Because of you, we've seen that it's possible to overcome the politics of division and the politics of distraction. That it's possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems." Video of that speech can be found here, on Barack's Youtube page.

This week will play a big part in sealing the deal for Obama, and it's worth noting that he hasn't resorted to cutting down his opponent just to claim a premature victory. Even better, Barack's started using his 'us' message again, and is focusing less and less on the differences between himself and Hillary. Now is the time to reunite the party in preparation for the A-game that the Republicans will assuredly bring in the next six months. I'll try not to devote much more of this blog to any perceived Hillary-bashing, but as a party, it's time to wrap up the nomination so we can put Barack up on the banner and start marching together toward a victory in November. And yesterday his campaign got several giant steps closer to finishing that march.