CNN.com has an excellent "delegate calculator" on its site:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/29/delegate.counter/index.html
Basically, these functions allow you to compare the progress of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as they stumble towards the Democratic nominating convention in Denver. You can, as I did, enter the assumption that Mrs. Clinton will win 60% of the popular vote in all the remaining primary elections; you can, as I did, even enter the assumption that Mrs. Clinton will win 60% of the superdelegates. Even should this happen, Mr. Obama would win the nomination in August.
I have a lot of respect for Mrs. Clinton and the contest she has run. I have a lot of respect for people who want this to be decided on the convention floor. This is, after all, how it happens in the movies. But, in practical terms, I think a lot of Americans want to get to the main event: democrat versus republican. They want to compare how the two parties plan to steer the United States forward.
After a team wins four games in the World Series, they stop playing the games. I am sure that a lot of Americans, and perhaps even a lot of vocal supporters of Mrs. Clinton, must be feeling that they have watched the final out. But, as a CNBC pundit put it last night, who is going to go and take the baseball away from her?
