Indiana and North Carolina

SAN DIEGO - scribe on the road here, with the following message: That ought to do it.

Yes, the Clinton camp now informs that the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination has suddenly increased by 200 or so.

You have to wonder where they'll find the corresponding states to house those delegates. But blessed be the party Democratic that allows those losing to move the finish line and proportionately awards delegates to runners-up, otherwise Sen. Clinton's institutional advantage in the "big states" would have been decisive for her.

And, again, they're crying Michigan and Florida, but that fish won't fly since the media has finally blown the whistle on the Clinton-directed narrative; starting with Tim Russert's stentorian proclamation that, "We now know who the Democratic nominee will be...."

(Ouch!)

Of course, highwayscribery has been telling you that since Billary got caught with her pantsuit down after Super Tuesday did not turn out as planned.

Indeed, an "unnamed Clinton adviser" told "Salon" (or didn't) that "we lost this thing in February."

And a lot of money since then. On both sides.

Driven to paranoia by the faux "pastor controversy" and other rites of passage peculiar to the American process-presidential, Obama-philes flicked multiple middle fingers at the man and his media by dumping mounds of moolah into the mother of all fundraising machines.

Of course, underneath the media hysteria the Obama campaign was going about its business and meeting a May 6 goal of assembling a contributor base totaling 1.5 million people.

Obama-ites reveled in uniquely themed money drives such as one for Mother's Day that urged everyone to donate $5.11 every day until Mother's Day (5/11).

There is no knowing for sure, but money being the mother's milk of politics (to stretch the metaphor), they could console themselves that Pennsylvania might have been worse without the extra cash.

Freed of this oppressive panic after Tuesday night's success, the Obama Army was online in force today, donating and constructing phone banks for contacting West Virginia that might render Clinton's demographic advantage a nullity.

Which is why smart politicians know when to go.

Clinton may not be the smartest pol to ever hit the hustings, but her candidacy has certainly been instructive.

Persistence in the pursuit of personal goals is cant in our culture, but Hillary has provided a sterling example in praxis. After getting her clock cleaned in Wisconsin for the umpteenth time, she pressed on where lesser men (for she was truly alone in the gender sense), would have folded, and was almost able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

That most American of philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, counseled us to "take your place in the universe, for the world meddles not," which is probably true except when you're running for president, which is a much-coveted slot, although you've got to wonder why.

Sometimes even rich and powerful people like the Clintons don't get what they want.

That's the promise of America as opposed to, let's say, Spain, where the King's team, Real (Royal) Madrid, always wins the soccer title.

America generated the Amazin' Mets of 1969 and this year it is producing the black guy from Hawaii who never really got to know his father.

Hope, indeed.