By Jim RutenbergVery early Wednesday morning, after many voters had already gone to sleep, the conventional wisdom of the elite political pundit class that resides on television shifted hard, and possibly irretrievably, against Senator Hillary Clinton's continued viability as a presidential candidate.
The moment came shortly after midnight Eastern time, captured in a devastatingly declarative statement from Tim Russert of NBC News: "We now know who the Democratic nominee's going to be, and no one's going to dispute it," he said on MSNBC. "Those closest to her will give her a hard-headed analysis, and if they lay it all out, they'll say: 'What is the rationale? What do we say to the undeclared super delegates tomorrow? Why do we tell them you're staying in the race?' And tonight, there's no good answer for that."
It was not exactly Walter Cronkite declaring that the Vietnam War would end in stalemate. But the impact was apparent almost immediately, starting with The Drudge Report, the online news billboard that is the home page to many political reporters in Washington and news producers in New York. It had as its lead story a link to a YouTube clip of Russert's comments, accompanied by a photograph of a beaming Obama with his wife, Michelle, and the headline, "The Nominee."
The thought echoed throughout the world of instant political analysis, steamrolling the Clinton campaign's attempts to promote the idea that her victory in Indiana was nonetheless an upset in the face of Obama's heavy spending and his campaign's predictions that he would win there, or that she could still come back if delegates in Florida and Michigan are seated.
"I think there's an increasing presumption tonight that Obama's going to be the nominee," Chris Wallace, the Fox News host, said to Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's longtime political guru, who is now a Fox News analyst. The statement preceded a discussion about what a general election race would look like between Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
Speaking on CNN, David Gergen, a former adviser to several presidents, including Clinton's husband, said, "I think the Clinton people know the game is almost up."
Stating it more bluntly, Bob Franken, the political analyst, told the MSNBC host Dan Abrams shortly after 2 a.m. Eastern time, "Let's put it right on the table: It's over. It's over."
And it picked up again on the major morning news programs in a devastating cascade of sound bites for Clinton and her campaign.
Bob Schieffer on the CBS News program "Early Show": "Basically, Maggie, this race is over."
George Stephanopoulos on the ABC program "Good Morning America": "This nomination fight is over."
Matt Lauer on the NBC News program " Today": "Good morning, is it over?"
The commentary was punctuated by some brutal morning newspaper headlines: "Toast!" blared The New York Post; "Hil Needs a Miracle" declared The New York Daily News.
Of course, the political news media have not exactly showered themselves in glory this year. They have frequently made predictions that have been upended by actual votes from actual people.
But their opinions matter as much as ever in this late phase of the primary race, when Clinton and Obama are battling to sway the opinions of the uncommitted superdelegates — the party leaders and elected officials with automatic convention seats, whose support Clinton will need if she is to snatch the nomination from Obama.
The superdelegates are a largely elite group that presumably will track the conventional wisdom of Washington's class of political insiders as they weigh their decisions. And the big donors and fund-raisers whose help Clinton will need to continue her campaign are similarly tapped into the news media echo-sphere.
Clinton's campaign indicated early this morning that it would try to prove the commentariat wrong once again. "Pundits have gleefully counted Senator Clinton out before, and each time they have been wrong, because they don't decide this race — voters do," Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, wrote in an e-mail message. "And as the results in Indiana demonstrated, voters are rewarding Senator Clinton with victories, even in states Senator Obama predicted victory in."
Wolfson's statement came in quick response to a request for comment that was sent to him by e-mail after 2 a.m. Eastern time — an indication of the campaign's eagerness to undo the new conventional wisdom before it hardens.
And the campaign held a conference call with reporters this morning to send the clear signal that nothing had changed overnight.
Pointing to Clinton's victory in Indiana, and her inroads with what he called swing voters, Geoff Garin, her lead strategist, told the gathered reporters, "We think the results last night strengthen the case that she will be the strongest candidate for the Democratic Party in November."
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The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.
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