John, I agree that even the Clintons may find it hard to spin a 2 to 1 loss, but they will try. They will argue this was racial politics, unlikely to be duplicated since no state has such a high percentage of African American voters. Well, yes, winning over 80 percent of the African American vote in a state with the largest percentage of African American voters will be a salient fact. However, truth be told, Obama got a respectable 24 percent of the white vote and won overwhelmingly among voters below 60 and among young white voters. At the very least, it is a stinging rebuke to the Bill/Hillary team (70 percent of voters thought their attacks were unfair and late deciders went strongly for Obama despite Bill’s blitz and histrionics this week).

Obama will ride a wave of excitement and breathless coverage for a few days but then he does have his work cut out for him. Bluntly put, he must do better among white voters, especially in states like California where African Americans are only 7 percent of the electorate. Perhaps the specter of the Clintons’ rejection will encourage others beyond Caroline Kennedy to join Obama’s cause.

And what of John Edwards, who seems to be regularly below the Mendoza line? He trudges on, apparently with a nine state media buy because. . . because why? Well, that’s what John Edwards likes to do. Also, the savvy might recognize that with a well balanced Obama-Hillary fight and proportionally assigned delegates the possibility for a brokered convention increases. With that, so does Edwards’ bargaining leverage. (Would he be the first person who ran for VP with two different people at the top of the ticket?) Let’s hope the price for his delegates doesn’t include an important spot like Attorney General. ( Would the first order of business be a pardon for Dickie Scruggs?)