We at TDS will have plenty to say tomorrow about the NC and IN primary results, and what they mean in terms of the Democratic nominating contest. But for tonight, I just want to note a small curiosity: when’s the last time in a highly competitive contest that one candidate conceded, and another claimed victory, before the networks called the race? That just happened with respect to Indiana, where every network other than CBS (which called it early for HRC) is waiting for the results from Lake County, which Obama is expected to win by a large margin.
The Obama campaign almost certainly doesn’t think it can get enough votes from Lake to completely erase Clinton’s statewide lead. Still, given the importance of an election night victory claim for HRC–which, predictably, she made by quoting Obama’s ill-advised “tiebreaker” comment about IN–you’d think the Obama folks would have used the reticence of the nets to keep the waters muddy until most television viewers had gone to bed. It’s probably another sign, reinforced by the overall “unity” theme of Obama’s NC speech, that they’re focused on ending the nomination contest gracefully. Unless, of course, they’re playing with the idea of some sort of Truman-like “surprise” if Lake somehow pulls out the Hoosier State for them. That’s unlikely, but this has been an unlikely political year, hasn’t it?