No matter which delegate count you use, Barack Obama is ahead. After the Potomac primary’s votes are counted he will be farther ahead. (When you have to assure supporters that the race is not “slipping away,” you can be sure the race is slipping away.) Two days after the February 19 Wisconsin primary there will be another debate, co-sponsored by CNN and Univision. It may be Hillary Clinton’s last chance before the March 4 contests (including the perhaps all important Texas primary) to change the storyline or come up with one of her own before a large national audience. (Obama’s “change” is pretty thin gruel, but what exactly is her theme?)

On the GOP side, McCain has at least 729 delegates (likely more than that when the remaining California delegates are finally doled out) and after the trio of primaries will likely have at least 848 delegates. His margin of victory may not be as impressive as the polling numbers, since it becomes increasingly difficult to turn out voters when the media and voters recognize that the race is essentially sewn up. However, with a 600 delegate margin and endorsements rolling in from party favorites like Jeb Bush, he can spend his time working on how he is going to deal with

an electorate that seems oddly indifferent to conventional norms of preparedness for the job of commander-in-chief — and which appears even more indifferent to the existence (or absence) of detailed policy prescriptions despite the grave problems confronting the nation.

That, and beefing up his domestic agenda, rather than trying to assuage the remaining unhappy elements on the Right (who are mightily trying to leverage their perpetual dissatisfaction with McCain into demands on policy and a VP pick) would seem a better use of his time.