Indeed, a time for restraint and for grace on both sides. This can be healed, and rather quickly, but a great deal depends on how both candidates comport themselves tonight. No gloating. No casting of aspersions. No blaming. None. As far as the trolls here who never had a shred of credibility to begin with (yeah, that's you, shawnie baby), then let the aspersions fly. Others who've shown heart as well as vitriol (Smith, lopait, kate, others) deserve the time to reflect and to come to terms with something very difficult. This campaign was a double edged sword, and someone was gonna get cut. Either candidate would be an historic, and worthy, first. Only one could win. Hurt feelings, strong dissent, were inevitable. What is not inevitable is the division continuing, to allow what no real Democrat could even remotely entertain: the continuation of Bush policies by an even more belligerent butthead, the drive of the Bullcrap Express, Warmonger Johnnie McLame. We cannot permit that to happen. I envision John Edwards as Attorney General, indicting those fascist bastards by the bunch; perhaps Joe Biden as Secretary of State- the man knows the intricacies of the Middle East as well as anyone. And even Big Bill as an Ambassador At Large, as long as we have him neutered fist. Yes, we can.

A time for peace..... if Ms Clinton withdraws with grace and dignity, with no hint of sour grapes or casting of aspersions, I think Obama might be well advised to consider her. I say this primarily for tactical reasons, not for any admiration I retain after the deportment of the Clinton campaign (mostly surrogates, especially Big Bill) during the latter stages of the campaign. We can put that behind us, but the first gesture must be hers, and it must be authentic. Yes, we can. I'd buy it. I'd vote for it.

President Carter did more for peace during his tenure, and more since he's returned to private life, than all the Bushes and Clintons combined. Thank you, Mr. President.

the rules were written by Icky and billary's bunch- you know, the party insiders so sure of her nomination that they somehow mystically pulled secret levers for the black guy. Rank hypocrisy of the first, uh, rank.

Joe, we should leave one, stuffed, as an example of a species that refused to evolved and died a sudden and well deserved death. Too bad Strom ain't around; he was pre-embalmed and it would have saved taxpayers some taxidermy money. re Doolittle: we lived in Sacramento when that worm was first elected, and a smarmier, more self righteous little prig would be hard to conjure. If only he's been caught toe-tappin' in the men's room of a major airport. That would have been truly poetic justice. The Dem theme song for this November: Landslide, Fleetwood Mac. "Time makes you bolder, even children get older, and I'm getting older, too". I'm pushing 62 now, and I can't wait to get these fascist bastards out of power, and on the witness stand. then, a cell block of predominately large angry gay black men. Can't I dream?

false dichotomy, fran. the fascists played winner take all in every primary, a process designed to limit the field and to ensure nomination without too much messy democracy. Our process, God knows, needs to be redesigned, but it needs to be done so in such a way that not only the rich well known candidates have a chance. An early, national primary would essentially obliterate any long shot candidate. Are we really that impatient, that five months of campaigning makes our ADD little brains go all haywire? The order in which the states vote- by tradition, Iowa and New Hampshire, has been around a long while. Maybe the deck needs to be reshuffled. But I do think the primaries need to be staggered over a period of months. Candidates grow, or shrink. The word vetting is in vogue. Putting together a campaign staff, a fundraising strategy, an approach to the whole process, is one measure of executive acumen. Artificial in some ways, yes, but it is an intense, challenging thing to go through. But the Presidency is not for the faint of heart either. I have long favored public financing of campaigns, but until we reach that utopia (don't hold your breath), we need to redesign the primary process, not blow it up.

If Rodham bow out with sufficient grace- not groveling or sniveling or begging, which I highly doubt are in her bag of personalities- and begin, almost immediately, to act as an aggressive surrogate attacking McLame everywhere on every issue. I could swallow her being on the ticket. If she gives a tepid concession and goes back to NY to pout, a pox on her. It's entirely up to her. She took an insurmountable lead and got mounted, but she has a considerable following, and is a better campaigner than she was six months ago. Let's see what she does, what she says, and how she says it. She doesn't need to kiss his ring. I don't think he wants or expects that subservience. That would be harmful to her supporters, and to the party. As Al Green put it, let's stay together.

and all with the same dreary drone about half votes for half wits.