End game

The one thing that I'll give the Clinton campaign credit for is that last week they managed to completely overshadow the fact that Barack Obama secured a majority of delegates elected by the American people.

This, however, should not be a source of pride. It may have been a close nominating battle, but close is not tied, and Barack Obama won.

Now it's time for Clinton supporters to make a decision: are they going to help their candidate find some sort of way to get out of the race with at least some of her dignity intact? Or are they going to continue enabling her increasingly bizarre campaign?

I know there's a sense that Clinton supporters need to be coddled, treated with kid gloves. But I have enough respect for them to believe that they can handle a firm -- but polite -- message such as this.

I know the frustration of having your candidate lose. Barack Obama was not my first choice. John Edwards was. I still miss his presence in the race. But he didn't win. So I had to move on.

If you're a Clinton supporter, one the things that you can actually look forward to is getting fired up for the first time by Barack. I remember when it was for me -- it was his speech after the Potomac Primary, in Wisconsin.

It's a cool experience. And let me promise you, the Obama people -- and I think I can now safely say "us" when I talk about Barack Obama's supporters -- are welcoming folks. Nobody looks down on me because I supported Edwards. And nobody will look down on you because you supported Clinton.

But as tough as it is, you must accept the current state of the campaign. I know there's this "national popular vote" number that keeps on getting tossed about. The problem is that it just doesn't really exist; each state has different rules for selecting delegates -- you can't sum up each individual contest to establish a national popular vote.

Other than the pledged delegates, the closest thing we have to a national popular vote are national polls. And as you can see from the chart in this post, Barack keeps on getting stronger month after month.

So jump aboard. I know it sucks to lose. But we're going to win -- and we need you.