Too Soon To Stop This Movie

Suggesting, as Clinton did, that McCain is more fit to be commander in chief than Obama crossed that line. It's not even good politics: Clinton said in launching her bid that she is "in it to win it," but she isn't going to win it by tearing down Obama.

The point could come -- indeed, it probably will -- when sheer mathematical possibility is not enough to justify fighting on. At a certain stage in the cost-benefit analysis, the harm to the party, even factoring in Clinton's assessment of Obama's general election liabilities, may exceed the chance of her winning, especially after subtracting the continuing cost to her reputation by staying in.

The other day, Obama compared the primary season to a movie that's gone on for too long. Like Clinton, I don't mind a good epic.

This one, though, reminds me of "The War of the Roses," the Kathleen Turner-Michael Douglas movie about a couple who build a beautiful house but manage to destroy it -- and themselves -- in the course of an ugly divorce. This would cast Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean in the Danny DeVito role as the divorce lawyer powerless to stop the carnage.

Maybe both candidates should rent the DVD. Dean, too. They need the break -- and they might learn something.

marcusr@washpost.com