From Scratch

Last night, after Barack Obama’s victory speech in North Carolina, David Gergen said it was the beginning of the end of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Gergen is a rarity: he put aside partisan politics after serving in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan White Houses when he agreed to serve the country as an adviser in Bill Clinton’s administration. His soft-spoken opinions always catch my ear.

But last night, having watched the same energized, convention-style speech as Gergen, it seemed to me that we also witnessed the end of the beginning of the Obama campaign, shifting into a new phase that banishes forever all thoughts of Hillary’s once-vaunted inevitability.

Some signs were there before the polls closed. John McCain, nobody’s fool, attacked Obama yesterday, not Clinton, evidence of his perception of his eventual opponent. Hillary’s campaign, in a dizzying display of spin, audacious even for her, tried to change the rules in midstream, telling reporters yesterday the number of delegates needed to win the nomination, is no longer 2,025 but 2,209 — the number it would have been had Florida and Michigan not defied party rules.

He now has 1.876 to her 1.729, after his easy North Carolina win and near-victory in Indiana.

With few primaries left, there are further signs of a circling of the establishment wagons:

• The powerful Service Employees International Union, which endorsed Obama, issued a press release last night calling him the “presumptive nominee.”
• Shortly after midnight, no less an insider than NBC’s Tim Russert, reported that Hillary had cancelled her appearances today on the network morning shows.
• A few minutes later, he said flatly, “We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be.”

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Her campaign is said to be so close to broke that she has again loaned it money. Last night, in what the The New York Times calls “an unusual move“, her advisers refused to confirm or deny that. Equally unusual was her very public plea for donations during her Indiana victory speech.

The paper further says Obama’s campaign is poised to announce the support of more superdelegates,  perhaps as early as today, and that some could be among those who have backed Clinton.

Hillary vowed last night to continue fighting for a nomination that is mathematically impossible and would require the Democratic party to negate the popular vote in order to hand her the prize she so desperately wants. She seems not to care that her ambitions are damaging her party and the chance to win back the White House.

It’s all about her. And Bill. Always has been, always will be. There is no beginning of an end of that in sight.

Afternoon update: Wagon-circling continues, with former Sen. George McGovern, now 85, publicly urging Clinton to quit the race. He said Obama has won the nomination “by any practical test” and that it’s time to unite the party.

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