Key Points:

• According to the latest Associated Press tally, Obama heads into tonight’s vote-counting in Montana and South Dakota with 2,094 total delegates, just 24 short of the number needed to secure the nomination. Clinton has 1,916 delegates.
• Clinton campaign officials have said they will concede if Sen. Obama reaches 2118 this week.
• Obama plans large Super Delegate endorsements tonight and this week.

Washington, D.C. (rightcommentary.com): As T.S. Elliot wrote in Hollow Man, “This is the way the World Ends. This is the Way the World Ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” I imagine that is how Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), feels tonight about her bid to become the Democratic Nominee. Although she has won the majority of the popular vote, and although she won big in the States needed to win the General Election, and although she had both big organization, big donors, and big momentum, and although she wins the majority of the delegates in tonight’s contests - it’s over for her… not with a bang, but a whimper.

Tonight, Senator Barrack Obama (D-IL), will likely have secured the 2118 delegates needed for a first round vote victory at the DNC Convention in Denver this August. The Associated Press is reporting, based upon evaluation of the current pledged delegate count, as well as unofficial polling of “super delegates” (democrat elected officials and important partisans), Sen. Obama will have considerably more delegates than the 2118 needed to clinch the nomination. Sen. Obama was guaranteed even if he lost the final two primaries in South Dakota and Montana today.

In this final day of campaigning, Sen. Clinton was still defiant, and gave an impressive and detailed stump speech full of uplifting prescriptions for healthcare, taxes and energy independence. Yet there was a sense of a woman with her fingers in a leaking dam, straining to halt the impending flood of super-delegates to her rival. Even as she spoke in Sioux Falls, the remaining majority of her Democratic Senate colleagues were meeting behind closed doors in Washington to plot the endgame by planning a mass endorsement for Mr Obama this week - perhaps even tonight.

Sen. Clinton now argues that more people - nearly 18 million - have voted for her than for Mr Obama. She has won most of their contests since February 20. There were queues stretching hundreds of yards in Sioux Falls, and new polls showing her suddenly leading her rival in South Dakota. She also argues that Sen. Obama will be unable to forge the democratic coalition of white, hispanic, and lower income voters that have proven essential in past elections to win the General Election in November. Responding to an Associated Press report that Clinton would concede to Obama tonight and effectively end her bid for the presidency, the Clinton campaign issued a terse denial. “The AP story is incorrect,” the campaign said in a statement. “Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening.”

Interviewed earlier on NBC’s “Today” show, Clinton campaign chairman Terence R. McAuliffe at first sounded a defiant note, saying she would fight on for the more than 17 million people who have voted for her in primaries so far. He also challenged Obama to issue his superdelegate numbers.

But McAuliffe subsequently acknowledged that Clinton would drop her candidacy and forgo a convention fight if Obama crosses the 2,118-delegate threshold. That is largely expected tonight with the declaration of today’s delegate assignments and the number of Super Delegates expected to declare.

“We’ve been on the phone talking to superdelegates, which we’ve been doing now for the last couple of months,” McAuliffe said. “Until someone has that magic number, we’re going to continue to fight for literally those 17.5 million people.” McAuliffe said to the Today Show.

Further, McAuliffe stated said Clinton “has received more votes now, more than any candidate ever running for president on either side” and has scored a series of big wins in recent primaries. In terms of the delegate count, he said, “we’re not there yet, and we’re still fighting and still going forward until someone gets the number.”

Quite honestly - it reminded me a bit of Baghdad Bob - who as the bombs were falling in Baghdad - denied that coalition forces had in fact entered the city.

According to the latest Associated Press tally, Obama heads into tonight’s vote-counting in Montana and South Dakota with 2,094 total delegates, just 24 short of the number needed to secure the nomination. Clinton has 1,916 delegates.

And in an usual twist - Sen. Clinton apparently told New York super delegates that she is open to being the Vice Presidential candidate - thus perhaps even stealing Sen. Obama’s thunder on his night to claim victory.