what a beautiful, joyful evening!!!!!
thank you, higher angels!

soulite, this one is for you!!!!

After tonight the little yappers can stop with their popular vote BS. Obama ahead in pledged delegates, ahead in popular vote and by the end of the week ahead in super delegate count.

If thats the case.. oh my its about time.

I wonder if Clinton really will bow out though. ..seems like shes hell bent on seeing just how close she can come if nothing else.

Imagine if Edwards or some of those guys had the same kind of staying power. ..would have actually gotten to see how much the rest of the country liked them.

There isn't much left for her to do now except continue with her fantasy that the super delegates are going to turn around and hand the nomination to her. Either that, or she'll just continue to work the whole Michigan and Florida angle to stir up trouble.

The press will continue to cover her campaign like she's got some kind of shot. But screw them.

I agree- there is not argument for Clinton remaining in the race. She needs to quit so that we can focus on McCain. Electability arguments are deeply flawed at best, and destructive to the party at worse considering she neither has the popular vote or delegate count. The best whe can hope for is to ask to be made VP as a part of a unity ticket. Outside of this, she hasn't shown she deserves through t he democratic process to be our nominee. It's really that simple. I've withheld this judgment until tonight. Not that I matter, but I imagine there will be al ot of people like me in teh coming days.

LoL, thanks Jacqueline. I always appreciated your writing style. No matter what anyone else says, it's better to be who you are then to do what makes other people happy. This is a victory for all of OBama's supporters, and for everyone who follows the better aspects of their nature.

Tonight is definitely awesome. I am really shocked, pleasantly so, at the results in Indiana. I really am glad so many people are following their hopes, and rejecting their fears.

Oh- and Obama needs to now ignore her campaign in favor of themes for the GE regardless of the press or Clinton. This will allow his numbers to raise against McCain.

Akaison, everyone matters. Never fall into that trap of thinking you don't. No matter what any of the bloggers say, we're citizens and we're voters. Elections are about us, not the media or even the candidates.

A truly great day for Obama supporters.

I'm really happy. Obama had a TERRIBLE couple weeks, but he survived--more than survived. I've withheld calling the race before tonight but now I will. Obama's got the pledged delegates, he's got the popular vote, he has the superdelegate momentum. The race is over. Obama is the democratic nominee for President. I'm really, really, happy.

akaison: I'm becoming more amenable to an Obama/Clinton ticket. I still think it's ridiculous and a horrible choice, but it's maybe no longer an impossible one. Andrew Sullivan laid out the logic a couple days ago, and in an insane way it sort of makes sense. Yeah, Obama's message takes a big blow--but the stunning and historic symbolism of that ticket is very, very powerful. Look at Obama and Clinton's respective constituencies: black and white, men and women, educated and working class, young and old, change and experience, etc. etc. I mean yeah most of here in the liberal blogosphere are partial to one of those wings but these are the two halves of the democratic party. Put them together, no matter how awkwardly, and you might just have an unstoppable and historic political juggernaut.

Contrast Obama's speech with Clinton's tonight - one looks like a President, the other looks like a tired politician whose time is over. She'll stagger on a while, scrabble for cash, win a couple of nickel and dime wins, and still lose in the end. I reckon you'll see 20 superdelegates move to Obama over the next 3 days.

Thinking over what I just typed, I am now on board with an Obama/Clinton ticket. It's not even clear to me who would be a better VP choice than Clinton, at least politically speaking (having the Clintons in the White House would admittedly be really annoying).

Let me be the first to say that I'm going to have a hard time seeing how Clinton can continue out of this; and that's less about the blowout in NC than the narrowness of Indiana. I'm not sure that's the same thing as saying we have come together, as a party, around Barack Obama. To do that, I think, the next steps will be key; and I'm not sure anyone knows, well, how to walk us all back from this ledge. I think there will be considerable temptation to gloat, or to punish, or to be cavalier about the support needed from some - if not most - of those who've supported Clinton, on principle, and in good faith. I've long worried that Obama's support - especially on the blogs - has a hard edge.

As I've said, I'm committed to supporting the nominee of the Democratic Party, and to make the argument in Barack Obama's favor, as needed. I can't say, just at this moment, that I think the numerical outcome can substitute for the ideas that haven't moved me. That's going to take a while longer. But there's no denying, I think, that things are effectively over, though the endgame will probably take a while to play out.

Wow.. with as coy as Clinton seems to be with the endgame.. Im surprised to see the die hard fence sitters calling it so decidedly after this one. Surprised but glad that some concensus is finally being reached. This process was way past being flogged to death.

yes, how dare we actually let democracy run its course rather than just following over ourselves merely because a few Obama supporters wanted it over. Look, piece of advice, the party is going to need to heal- it ain't going to happen with a bunch of gloating about how right you were early on. WHo gives a shit whether yo were right or not. It's how you are right that will determine how the race going forward will happen. Dean said as much. He said that after his lose to Kerry it took 2 or 3 months to heal the party. You need to realize that and start doing yoru part to contriube to that healing rather than continuing to produce unnecessary divides. Well , assuming you arein interested in Obama winning in nov. Who knows- pmaybe not.

"""Sen. Barack Obama has called Tuesday's Democratic primary in Indiana a potential tiebreaker."""

Well Barack, the tie was broken and you lost.

If Barack gets the nomination, it won't be because actual voters and pledge delegates gave it to him...they did not, it will be because superdelegates handed it to him in a backroon deal.

At the same time, Obama will be the main force behind denying Florida and Michigan the right to vote.

Hillary's edge came in from Operation Chaos, courtesy of Rush Limbaugh. Around 4% of voters said they were voting for Hillary now but would vote for McCain in November.

I am sure the Clinton campaign would support discounting all votes from self-identified Republicans throughout the primary contest.

Does Axelrod text you or did you pick that spin on your own?

Enough already!!! Hillary needs to go gentle into that good night right now!! In the words of Franz Kafka and Marvin Gaye, Hillary has got to “Give It Up”. In the old days of Monday Night Football, when one team had mounted an insurmountable lead, Don Meredith would start singing “Turn Out the Lights. The Party’s Over”. I want someone to deliver that message to Hillary. The undecided superdelegates need to muster the intestinal fortitude to pull the plug on Hillary’s kamikaze campaign. A delegation consisting of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Al Gore, John Edwards, Joe Biden, James Clyburn, Rahm Emanuel, Barbara Boxer, Carl Levin, Jimmy Carter, and Mario Cuomo needs to give Hillary an ultimatum. Hillary should be told that she has until this coming Friday at 12 noon to announce her withdrawal from this race. If she refuses to comply, this delegation should hold a press conference at 12 noon on Friday and announce that each one of them is endorsing Barack Obama for President.

Action must be taken quickly before the West Virginia primary. Obama is trailing Hillary badly in West Virginia and it would be a major embarrassment to have the party’s presumptive nominee defeated in a blowout. Hillary can’t be given any more opportunities to wound or weaken Obama. She must be subjected to excruciating, unrelenting pressure to drop out immediately.

Hillary has run a vile, venomous campaign based on race-baiting and fear-mongering. This should immediately disqualify her from being considered for the vice presidential slot on the ticket. It should also disqualify her from being considered for the post of Senate Majority leader which some people feel she deserves as a consolation prize.

Jerry, maybe you could just shoot her.