After Hillary Clinton’s historic 41-point victory in the West Virginia primary, two questions loom: How long will Barak Obama cling to his shattered dreams of the presidency, and how much damage will be done to the Democratic Party by his stubborn and divisive refusal to accept the obvious?

UPDATE – Below: How will Obama win an Electoral College majority? at Salon by Paul Maslin, former pollster to Howard Dean. (h/t BDBlue)

UPDATE 2 – Below: Skirting Appalachia, an Op Ed in the NYT opining on Barak Obama’s Electoral College strategic options by Charles Blow, Art Director at National Geographic -and why not? (h/t again to the sharp-eyed BDBlue)  Read more 

[Readers, the comments section is long and noisy, but interesting. See if, in your judgment, the points the bringiton makes are addressed head-on, or not. And watch for the duellling haikus! —lambert]

[Update below, 11 May 08, bottom of main text - BIO]

Only one thing matters; winning the Presidency in November. Hillary Clinton has proven she is by far the strongest candidate an most likely to achieve that victory. How can she convince the Democratic Party delegates?  Read more 

What ever happened to my Democratic Party? Why doesn’t the donkey love me anymore?  Read more 

Now that Hillary Clinton has challenged Barack Obama to a one-on-one debate (methinks it’s a smart move… he’s cornered), what questions should Hillary ask him?

My choice (and yes, I’m a policy wonk, bite me!):

• What specific policies would you implement toward more gender equality, on the job and elsewhere?
• How would you concretely restore America’s standing in the world community?
• How would you specifically deal with the dual crisis of credit crunch and food prices?
 Read more