I've supported Obama from the start. I was impressed as hell with his convention speech in 2004 and predicted that we would be seeing ALOT more of him in the near future, although I thought it would a few years out from now (not that I am complaining.)

But in looking back at this long, long, loooong campaign, one thing becomes very clear. Hillary Clinton is the single biggest factor in the seeming insurmountable lead Obama is showing less than a week from Election Day.

Clinton put up a scrappy fight for the nomination and that is THE key element in Obama's poise and standing now. She got down and dirty; he survived. She changed up her message; he survived. She dug deeper, finding several factors that hurt him (Wright, intimations he was Muslim, him dressed in that silly garb); he survived.

It was trial by fire and he made it through. We have Hillary to thank for digging up Wright and  desensitizing people to it back during the primaries. We have her to thanks for putting the Muslim smears out here so that Obama could effectively counter them back in the Spring.

Hillary put the Obama campaign through it's paces, shoring up the discipline, tact and steadiness that have come to characterize it. She forced them to stay on message despite the crap she threw at them ad that trial by fire has served them well.

Of course, other factors have contributed to Obama's run, but from a purely political campaigning standpoint, surviving the HRC juggernaut is second to none.