"Turn Out the Lights, The (Democratic) Party´s Over!"

Those words of a popular country song also pertain to the results of today´s (May 5th) election for Democrats. It´s over! Why? Let me try to explain my position.

Today´s decided victory for Barack Obama in North Carolina by double digits and the small margin of victory by Hillary Clinton in Indiana certainly seal the nomination for Barack. The numbers almost certainly assure that much.

With the remaining elections to be held few, the number of remaining delegates small, and the momentum swinging back to Obama, there is no hope for a Clinton nomination without a miracle of some extreme sort. It ain´t gonna happen, Hillary, no matter how you and Bill spin it. No way in Hades! There is no way possible that Barack will not be the nominee. Not after today. Can you imagine the uproar if the Democrats tried somehow to finagle the outcome? Pandemonium.

Today´s elections were the ´game changer´ that Hillary predicted – but not in the way she had hoped. She lost ground in popular votes, elected delegate votes, and, by tomorrow evening, in Super Delegates. Yes, today will most certainly move some uncommitted super delegates to Barack´s side. Probably lots of them. Barack needs only about 200 additional delegates to gain the nomination. He will have those shortly. He will be the nominee in a matter of days. Bet on it. Double down – and remember you heard it here first.

As I write tonight, Barack is giving his victory speech in North Carolina to a large and enthusiastic crowd. It is different than past victory speeches when there was more work to be done; no, this is an early nomination victory speech. It is a bit conciliatory towards Hillary, but it is more against John McCain than anything even close in past speeches. It is being given as if Hillary has already conceded the nomination. (Have they been talking tonight beforehand?) Is the once indomitable ´Clinton machine´ done and have they thrown in the towel? Perhaps. If not, there will be increasing pressure for them to do so in order that Obama can move on to the nomination and the general election campaign with no more time wasted on Hillary. Nor money.

Now, once nominated - which can´t officially happen until the convention in Denver in August – the fun will begin. Even before. Barack will not have an easy time of it. Hillary has more than once spoken of ´electability´ and for a good reason. He has not won many major states where he will have to prevail in November. He has not been impressive in getting white middle class voters to rally behind him. White women don´t support him – at least when they had Hillary as an option. Will that change? Possibly not.

Barack has many other flaws - none as obvious as his close association with unsavory and/or unpatriotic characters in his past. The irreverent Reverend fiasco will certainly reemerge strongly in the fall especially considering the Reverend has no intentions of crawling under a rock until after the election. He seemingly wants more than his fifteen minutes of fame and he appears intent on getting it.

Barack isn´t as specific on issues as he will be dogged to be in the fall by McCain who will surely point out - more effectively than Hillary - that Obama is more about speeches and flowery words than substance. It will ring true when closely scrutinized by voters on Election Day next November. There is too much at stake for voters to elect a ´talking head´ no matter how smooth and soothing his words may be. Details. Specifics. Finite plans. Those are what voters want to hear when it really counts. The primaries are a warm up, spring training, summer camp. Election Day, November 4th, is game time. The BIG game! Folks will be watching closely until then. They probably will decide in vast numbers long before that based on what - not how - Barack says about his grand plan for America.

For these reasons and more, I believe the party´s over for the Democrats. McCain is sure to hammer Barack on all of the above and much more. And, Hillary will be sitting in front of her TV, seething, saying "I told you so!"