You knew the rules when this started, and so did Clinton. It's not Obama or the system's fault her campaign blew a 100 SD lead and all the name recognition 8 years in the WH could buy.

Obama will be our nominee!

i suppose it's possible -- i couldn't tell you who the american idol star is.  but since you've missed it, here it is:

* barack obama does not enter the general election campaign with historic highs in his negatives.  no non-incumbent has ever won election to the presidency with the highs in their negatives that hillary has.

* barack obama does not share hillary's divisiveness problem: dividing the democratic party while uniting the republican party.  we can argue all we want about whether barack's candidacy will continue to divide democrats.  but there is no argument that he does not unite republicans and conservatives as hillary would have.  this is especially helpful, given the fact that the gop is demoralized and confused.  why help them out?

* barack obama expands our electoral base.  yes, hillary has attempted the same thing (and she theoretically had the same appeal) -- but the difference is that a lot more voters are being registered and energized by barack's candidacy than by hillary's.  in pennsylvania, it was a 3 to 1 difference (i'm not familiar with exact numbers elsewhere).

* barack obama appeals to the media and garners largely favorable media coverage.  why should republicans be the only ones?  why shouldn't the democratic nominee get generally favorable press?  is there a rule that democrats have to nominate someone who will be hammered by their media coverage?

* barack obama has proven that he can compete at the presidential level.  unlike hillary's, the obama campaign put together a realistic campaign plan, mobilized it's voters and won elections.  none of the missteps on strategy, message, organization, etc.  i think we can all admit that no one has worked harder than hillary herself has in the last 7 weeks.  but the obama campaign has been more consistent and even keel.

* barack obama is a proven voter getter.  unlike hillary, obama has actually led his state in winning the highest number of votes cast when he was on the ballot.  while hillary has been a consistent underperformer, barack is a notable overachiever.  we don't need another underperformer (like kerry) heading up the democratic ticket.  (i'll gladly concede that hillary has a lot of potential.)

* barack obama has proven to have built a better campaign organization.

* barack obama has adjusted his campaign to the 21st century (something that i doubt hillary will ever be able to do) and has successfully integrated both new media formats and citizen-activists participation into his campaign.

* barack obama allows for a strong message contrast with mccain.  more to the point, republicans do not have 16 years worth of video on obama showing him saying one thing and then saying another.

* barack obama is optimistic and appeals to the sunny american optimism that is always successful at this level.

* barack obama's campaign team is united and works well together.

etc.  the advantages that barack has over hillary are so numerous -- and so self-evident -- that it's hard to imagine how you missed them (unless, of course, you are a member of hillary's cult of personality)...

interesting!  Thanks!!!