It's over

Clinton needed big wins to make the case for a superdelegate coup and didn't get them.

She hasn't had a real chance to get a delegate lead since late February. The best she could hope for was that two decisive victories would have been enough to convince superdelegates that Obama had been damaged by the Rev. Wright story to the point of not being electable.

But, as the results showed (and exit polls also proved) voters didn't think the Wright flap was an issue.

The media's finally caught on to the math that the rest of us figured out way back.

NBC's Tim Russert:

"We now know who the Democratic nominee's going to be, and no one's going to dispute it."

ABC's George Snuffleupagus:

"This nomination fight is over."

CBS's Bob Schieffer:

"Basically, Maggie, this race is over."

Now it's just a matter of when Clinton gets out and how.

Lawrence O'Donnell, who's worked in Democratic politics for years and is pretty well acquainted with the Clintons lays out her exit strategy from talks with her campaign:

Everything about our conversation implied that he had already had this reality-based discussion with Hillary. He said the Clinton campaign plan is to collect as many votes and delegates as they can right through June 3, then take no more than a week or so to make their case to the superdelegates. Nothing he said indicated that he actually expected the superdelegates to move to Hillary in the week after the final election. The Clinton campaign has not lost its grip on reality. Yes, Clinton spokespersons publicly seem to be lost on gravity-free planet Clinton, but privately they know the end is near.

Further proof that they're winding things down is the fact that she canceled all of her morning show appearances today.

So expect her to keep in until primary season is over, but mellow the tone of the campaign (think Huckabee's last few weeks vs. McCain). She'll likely get a victory or two to go out on a high note (W.Va. being one of them), but there are few delegates left, superdelegates are moving to Obama (four today). The polls in most of the remaining states aren't close and he probably has more wins ahead. If things play out as expected, many expect he'll clinch the nomination two weeks from now in Oregon.

Photos: AP