end it now

I'm a bit of a political junkie. Not to an unhealthy degree, but I enjoy reading political blogs, keeping up with the latest headlines, etc. So a drawn out primary season has been pretty interesting this year, especially with two pretty strong candidates seeking to make history. While I've been an unabashed Obama supporter since "The Speech" in 2004 its really only since Super Tuesday that I've started to lose all patience with the Clinton campaign. Between telling us which states don't count, telling us states that in fact don't count should, otherwise whining about wanting to change the rules in the middle of the game, being angry and self-righteous, or fear-mongering, she has done nothing in the past month to convince me that she cares about anything other than getting herself elected President. I look forward to the day we have a woman President. I think its long overdue, and would provide a welcome change in perspective at the top. I think that Sen. Clinton would be a more than capable President. However the conduct of her campaign has been underhanded, cynical, and critically shortsighted. I've no doubt, in fact, that the blame for much of this lies with her advisors, but in the end the candidate must be responsible for those they choose to advise them, and she has clearly chosen poorly.

It is time (in my opinion past time) for this nominating season to end, and for the party to unite behind Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President. Sen. Clinton has a large number of ardent supporters who will be understandably devasted by her defeat. It will be an emotional blow and it will take some time before they are able to be enthusiastic about Obama. Given the choice, however, between George W. McCain and Obama, I hope that nearly all of Clinton's supporters will be able to once again join the difficult fight for the advancement of Progressive causes under a new standard-bearer.

Now, today there are four critical contests taking place in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Clinton and Obama have both been playing the expectations game but there is a stark mathematical reality to the nominating process.

I was bored the other day and started to crunch some numbers, but CNN outdid me with an interactive delegate counter game. Its pretty neat. If you go play around with the results, the endgame of this nominating process seems surprisingly clear.

Essentially, there's almost no way Clinton can win the nomination without either scoring landslide victories today that totally demoralize the Obama camp and raise questions about his ability to "close it out", or subverting the will of the voters.

John McCain will be a tough opponent, for either Clinton or Obama. The longer the two most popular Democratic politicians keep fighting each other, the more time McCain gets to solidify his base and campaign for the presidency. We can ill afford to allow the infighting to continue and take a fractured party base deep into what should be general election season.

As I said before, it is time for this to end. Barring a surprise pair of wide victory margins by Senator Clinton, I hope she has the perspective and grace to concede the contest and continue her advocacy on behalf of progressive causes and the people of New York in the US Senate.

Apologies for the long post. I'm anxious to watch the returns, and see what happens after the votes are counted. So this is, hopefully, my last word on the primaries (although I doubt it).