The CW Circles Hillary

After the stories Friday, including the one about NAFTA and especially Hillary's preposterous account of her Bosnia trip which may be yet to blossom on cable TV, the media conventional wisdom is circling around Hillary, declaring the game is over. Or as Time's Michael Scherer says "The media referees in the ring are itching to call the Democratic bout."

The chorus grew by two today--Mark Helprin (usually on the conservative side) and Maureen Dowd in the NY Times (hard to characterize her because I just don't read her columns. Even when she's on my side, she's too snide for my tastes.) Here's another take on their takes.

What's prompting this now, besides what's turning out to be a long time between primary contests, is probably not just the bad news about Hillary and her campaign in the past few days, but the evidence that Obama has survived the Rev. Wright cablebombing (the CBS poll yesterday, and his return to lst place in the Gallup daily tracking poll today) and the symbolism of Bill Richardson's endorsement.

There's also beginning to be some admitting that if Obama and Hillary's positions were reversed in the delegate, popular vote and states won leads, the drumbeat for Obama to drop out would have been deafening a long time ago.

The charges and countercharges go on--I'll see your Judas and raise you a McCarthy--but if prominent super-delegates start following Richardson's lead, this could be over even before Pennsylvania, especially if Hillary's money problems are as severe as the financial report suggests they might be. Though I suppose the smart money is still on June.