I haven’t caught up with all the commentary, but I gather that there’s a pretty broad consensus that Clinton is finished. I agree with that consensus. What an odd race, though. If Clinton carries on, the fact that she no longer has a shot at the nomination will not keep her from winning West Virginia and Kentucky. Her voting blocs do not seem to be fazed by her failure–they are immune to Obama’s momentum. I wonder how many of her voters, by the end, had become anti-Obama voters as much as pro-Clinton voters.
His speech last night seemed to me to be pretty strong: a return to his core themes of unifying the country and transcending our divisions, but this time directed against McCain rather than Clinton. Note the pre-emptive attack on McCain for running a sleazy campaign based on “fake controversies” and “distractions.” (I can’t think of anything McCain has done that is as dishonest as the Democrats’ “100 Years” attack on McCain.) On past form, I think we are justified in assuming that any issue that hurts Obama is a fake controversy and a distraction from the country’s really pressing work, which is electing him.