Just because Clinton has bowed out of the race does not mean Obama is the obvious choice. He’s really quite smooth and says all of the right things to make people believe him just like those popular guys in school often could get whatever they wanted. I’m hoping he won’t to us what those guys did to the girls they dated. — “Still Watching,” on a Washington Post message board

Following the last debate, there was some mention of the fact that Obama helped Hillary out of her chair. (I also saw him help her INTO her seat.) Even that was turned into a positive by the media. I didn’t hear anyone say the act was sexist or inappropriate. IT WAS! — “lindalee,” on a Huffington Post message board

Terribly sexist. — Geraldine Ferraro, on Barack Obama’s campaign

Well, Hillary is finally out of the race. Sort of. Her campaign is suspended and her hopes for 2008 are officially over, sort of, meaning it’s now appropriate, sort of, to reflect upon the meaning of her run for office this year.

And that, folks, is already saying something — that fact that it’s not a time to write a political obituary for Hillary Clinton. Had she lost in New Hampshire this year and then bowed out of the race — and she came within a few percentage points of having that scenario unfold — Hillary Clinton most likely would have been finished as a presidential hopeful for good. (more…)

I’m coming to the conclusion that maybe this RFK thing isn’t quite as venal as it appeared at first glance.

Clinton first trotted out this line on March 6:

TIME: Can you envision a point at which–if the race stays this close–Democratic Party elders would step in and say, “This is now hurting the party and whoever will be the nominee in the fall”?

CLINTON: No, I really can’t. I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.

That was one day after Jeffrey Toobin made the same point on Larry King on March 5:

L. KING: Jeffrey Toobin, it is a ding dong race, isn’t it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You know, there’s never been a political race anything like this in any of our lifetimes. Yes, many races have gone on longer. In fact, most political primaries have gone on longer. They often been resolved in June with the California primary, whether Bill Clinton in ‘92 or George McGovern in ‘72 or the — in 1968, of course, was when Robert Kennedy was assassination in June, at the end of the California primary.

Looking at this as generously as possible (Why? Because she’s not this stupid.) it seems at least plausible that she found herself watching Larry King one night a couple of months ago. She regurgitated Toobin’s friendly analysis the next day in an interview with Time, and then had the same nugget burble to the surface today in South Dakota.

Not that it mitigates the impact, but it’s certainly more plausible than the “I’ve been thinking about Teddy” excuse.

If there’s an innocent explanation for this, it escapes me.

[If the embed video is on the blink, here's a link.]

(And of all the weeks to be invoking dead Kennedy’s. She’s got a touch of Michael Savage in her, this one.)

UPDATE: Clinton apologizes… to the Kennedy’s. Not Obama.

“Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That’s a historic fact.

The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever.

My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I’m honored to hold Senator Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family.”

All class.

If it’s true, I think that’s checkmate.

UPDATE:
True and truly checkmate.

I’m reminded of what a class act Edwards is. After all we’ve been through, he could have rightly said to Hillary, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” But, instead, he spent the first five minutes of his speech praising her boldness and her persistence, reaching out to her supporters and otherwise doing damnest to kickstart party reunification. As someone who positioned himself as the candidate of blue collar America and the candidate of change, Edwards is in a unique position right now to help glue the Democratic party back together again.

And his stamp on the Obama platform just got even more pronounced. After successfully pushing Obama to embrace universal healthcare and uncompromised global warming targets, he’s got him on board with a commitment to halve poverty in America in the next ten years.

Watch the video:

Anyone who still thinks a unity Obama/Clinton ticket is a) a good idea or b) the remotest possibility hasn’t been paying attention.

“Clinton won’t quit; Obama doesn’t care”

The hed captures it all, no?

The Obama campaign has been pushing what they’re calling the Indiana “Limbaugh effect” pretty hard in the last 24 hours. They put out two memos last night citing the underhanded influence of the right-wing pundit and his quest to prolong the race via “Operation Chaos,” and John Kerry stressed the idea in this morning’s conference call with reporters, saying Limbaugh was “tampering with the primary.”

Here is the camp’s argument:

According to the latest exit polling data, 17% of voters in the Indiana primary today said they would vote for John McCain in a Clinton/McCain matchup.

41% of that number is constituted by people who voted Clinton in the primary but also indicated they will vote for McCain in the general election.

That comes out to just under 7% of the primary electorate the number that may be attributed to a “Limbaugh Effect.”

The math in this case is a tough nut to crack, as no hard and fast evidence exists to prove how many Republicans came out for Hillary simply because El Rushbo said so. Even with a rabid following, seven percent is rather enormous. But considering the narrowest of margins Clinton won by, Limbaugh’s gospel might have been the deciding factor.

Because February 5th, March 4th, and April 22nd clearly weren’t grand enough opportunities to lock up the Democratic nomiation, today’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana are now, according to the candidates, the “decisive” contests in this Bataan Death March…er…endless electoral process.

Or not. That would be too easy!

Two months ago, Hillary’s campaign looked crispy-fried. The math seemed insurmountable for the remaining contests, as Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter went through painstaking measures to convey. Obama, it was assumed, would win handily among Tar Heels and Hoosiers, his neighbors to the east, crushing Clinton once and for all.

But the consensus now is that today will be a political “Groundhog Day,” yielding six more weeks of campaigning. Clinton is apt to take Indiana and Obama North Carolina. So with no clear victor, the dynamics of the race remain largely unchanged.

Six states are left to go after today, ending with South Dakota and Montana on June 3rd. Maybe we can wrap this into a neat little package by then?