The nomination contest appears to be coming to a conclusion. Last night, there was a definite shift in the psycology of this race. Early on in the night, it looked like Hillary was going to have a big win in Indiana. A big win there, would have given her some rationale for continuing this fight. Instead, she got a marginal win, of about 22,000 votes.

Yes. A win is a win, but the closeness of the Indiana win did not support her campaign's theme that Obama was unelectable and irrepairably damaged by the controversies of the last month. Leaving the math and delegate counts aside, there are no real "game changers" left.

Hillary is done. I know it. You know it. She probably even knows it at some level even though she can't bring herself to say it publicly. All that is left to determine is how the junior Senator from New York wants to bow out.

Barack Obama, for all intents and purposes, is the Democratic Nominee for President.

We're living history. And in November, we'll have a chance to make history.

This campaign has been one for the history books. And not just because we had a woman and a black guy running for president who both had a legitimate shot at winning. Think about the ups and downs and the twists and turns we've taken to get here. This is a real life American drama. And we've had the honor and privilege of not only witnessing it, but of affecting it and driving it.

I have a feeling, when we're all old, our grandchildren will ask us about this campaign. And they'll be a little envious that we got the chance to live through it and witness it. Just as I was a envious of my father for having lived through the turmoil and the action and the tragedies of the 1960's. It's one thing to read about history in books. Its quite another thing to be living it. And to know you're living it.

I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. I certainly think its his to lose. The Republicans and John McCain have done such a good job of damning their chances in November, it would really surprise me if the Democrat didn't win.

But, you get the feeling that the general election campaign won't live up to the drama and the expectations that the Clinton-Obama campaign built. Almost as if, and I say this with a full realization of the irony, the general election will somehow be a "let down" emotionally.

Maybe it's precisely because the republicans have such a hard road ahead of them that the winner of the Democratic Nomination would almost certainly be the next president. Maybe its because in a race of Obama-Clinton and Obama-McCain, i felt that Clinton had the better shot of the two at beating Obama, and now that that won't happen, it almost feels...safer? If Obama can take on the biggest, most formidablle brand name in politics (and the machine that goes with it) and win, certainly he can take on John McCain (who btw, only got 73% of the republican vote in North Carolina) and win.

Of course, we cannot and we absolutely will not take anything for granted. We cannot afford to do that. The stakes are too high.

But as we draw this primary campaign to a close, we must not forget what an historical thing it was. It's something that American politics will remember forever. And we're all a part of it. No matter which side your on, who you support, we're a part of history. We've each made our mark and played our roles, no matter how small or large they may have been. If you volunteered for your candidate, if you made calls on their behalf, if you gave money, hell, even if all you did was vote, you were a part of something special.
 
But now the real work begins. John McCain won't go down without a fight, and, yes, he'll probably fight dirty. We're going to need everybody.

It would be utterly tragic if this opportunity was undermined over "sour grapes". And yes, I realize its easy for me to say. My guy won. And no doubt, if it had been the other way around, I'd probably be feeling a little different right now.

But we must not forget that we have a chance to make history. Lets make our future grandchildren proud and unite behind Barack Obama. If his campaign has taught us anything, its that we really do matter and that we can make a difference. But its going to take everybody.

We are the change we've been waiting for.