The Long and Winding Road

Obama is making clear that he plans to swing back:

"Seeking to rebound from defeats Tuesday night in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island," the NYT reports, "Senator Barack Obama's campaign signaled on Wednesday that it was preparing to sharpen its critique of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, challenging her contention that she has been more thoroughly scrutinized than her opponent . . .

"Mr. Obama's campaign put out a sharply worded memo criticizing Mrs. Clinton for not releasing her income tax returns; Mr. Obama has made his returns public.

"Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton's communications director, fired back with a statement raising the issue of Mr. Obama's ties to the developer Antoin Rezko, who is now on trial in Chicago. Instead of answering questions about Mr. Rezko, Mr. Obama said, Mr. Obama had chosen to 'lash out.'

"Mr. Wolfson said the Clintons' tax returns since they left the White House would be available on or around April 15."

Let me mark that unforgettable date on my calendar.

The Politico gang sees a contest that is nasty, brutish and long:

"The up-with-people phase of this contest is over. The clear-the-benches phase has begun -- a brawl that now is more likely than not to continue until the Democratic nomination in late August.

"Obama's failure to win Ohio and Texas and lock down the nomination -- combined with Clinton's newly defensible decision to press on despite a deficit in delegates -- virtually guarantees Democrats a draining contest that will give Republicans a months-long head-start on the general election.

"It will heighten racial, ethnic, gender, and class divisions already on stark display, raise awkward questions about the legitimacy of the nominating process, and inflict potentially lasting wounds on the eventual winner."

How did Hillary pull it off? The left and right are fairly united on this question. National Review's Rich Lowry:

"What was widely panned as her 'desperation' and 'fear-mongering' of the final days worked. In Ohio, 57 percent of voters said she was more qualified to be commander-in-chief and in Texas, 54 percent said she was more qualified . . .