Submitted to a Candid World

Time to get in gear, buddy. Nothing remarkable will happen today. All eyes – and all pressure – should be on Howard Dean to wrap this puppy up in an amicable way.

If you’re hoping that tonight’s primaries in Indiana and North Carolina will change anything in the Democratic nomination, I would hope the answer is yes, but I cannot imagine that will be the result. Obama is expected to sweep North Carolina, by a large margin, and despite leading in some polls, most consider Indiana a toss-up. So let’s consider North Carolina a given, and speculate on the results of Indiana.  Any way you cut it, Indiana will not be a dealbreaker.

If Barack Obama wins, we can expect this solid double-whammy victory, especially with one in a contested and largely “red” state, to put pressure on Hillary Clinton to bow out, but even a loss won’t put a huge dent into Hillary’s message – “I’ve won the big states.” If Hillary takes Indiana – likely by only a narrow margin – her claim to momentum is slightly buttressed, and we’re back in the status quo ex ante. Nothing remarkable will happen today.Either way, the campaign will go on tomorrow, much as it went on today, while John McCain thankfully sitting out. Today should only give Howard Dean more reason to put pressure on the party to make up their minds.

P.S. I’m incredibly saddened that all of the top results for pictures of Howard Dean involve parodies of his famous “scream.” Somehow this was death for his campaign, but drunk driving wasn’t for Bush? Huh?