Okay, this contest is over

Between the debate and the new polls in OH and PA, it doesn't even matter if Obama loses RI.  This is over.  

I think the debate and the endorsements yesterday clinched it.

Now, Clinton may never see the handwriting on the wall, but I suspect someone over in her camp (or multiple someones) will get her out before she gets really ridiculous.

Or not, in which case she squanders her entire legacy.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to campaign for Obama and raise money, etc.  Every voter we convince is steeled support in the general against McCain.  Every mistruth we smack down is a tired cliche in the general.

But I'm breathing easier.

Even my wife, who is notoriously apolitical, has said that we need to do more to support Obama after watching his performance last night.  This isn't worry about him losing, quite the opposite.  It's being SO impressive that he demands support with his presence and his potential.

Yes, the media may try to claim that RI is the beginning of the Comeback Kid, but not all of them.  Keith Olbermann will openly mock her claims on national TV.  I'd bet money on it.

But, even without OH wrapped up yet (and YES WE CAN if we work for it), I think this has really skated to a stop.  Republicans may waste a lot of money, but they don't waste venom.  They are going full hog on Obama.  They don't think Clinton can win.  And that's as good a marker as you're likely to get prior to Clinton leaving.

As for Clinton NOT leaving, given the ties between Mark Penn and top strategists in the McCain camp, through Burston-Marsteller PR, and given the way Penn is steering Clinton ... I think HRC is being used to attack Obama so McCain can keep his hands clean.  It makes me feel horrible for her, but not as horrible as I feel every day she prolongs this contest.

The final numbers aren't in by a long shot, but the contest is over.  For her to resurrect it from the dead, as MSNBC pointed out tonight, would be to court a disastrous Obama-supporter backlash against the Democratic Party.