Well, not really but she’s not conceding yet. Looks like Clinton is angling for a VP position but the question is…would Obama even consider it? I’m torn on this one. On one hand, this has been such a long process and she does have a good portion of the voters that together, they may have a good chance as clinching a victory. However, as a newbie to the White House (if he wins) I don’t know how well the Clintons would do with taking orders from Obamarama.

I’m not going to say I told you so because I think most of us assumed that John Edwards was waiting for just the right moment to throw his support behind the man he believes could name him second in command if he gets the nomination. In case you missed it, John Edwards officially endorsed Barack Obama this afternoon because, he says, Obama is willing to fight poverty.

On another note, Lou Dobbs made a couple of good points tonight. The democrats kept saying over and over they didn’t want a brokered convention and yet, that is exactly what is happening. They are allowing superdelegates to determine the candidate because neither Obama nor Hillary have the number of committed delegates needed to secure the nomination. Dobbs was saying the Democratic party is breaking some of its own rules while it strictly adhered to other rules that threw out the Florida and Michigan votes…states that could have taken this primary in a much different direction. What happens next is anybody’s guess but fine, I will say I told you so on this one.

It looks like with 10% of the precincts reporting, Clinton is winning Indiana’s primary so far…

Election Results

Clinton

58%

Obama

42%

I guess after Bill Richardson threw high support behind Obama, the pundits decided to start putting their two cents in–this is Halperin’s 14 reasons Hillary should throw in the towel:1. She can’t win the nomination without overturning the will of the elected delegates, which will alienate many Democrats.

2. She can’t win the nomination without a bloody convention battle — after which, even if she won, history and many Democrats would cast her as a villain.

3. Catching up in the popular vote is not out of the question — but without re-votes in Florida and Michigan it will be almost as impossible as catching up in elected delegates.

4. Nancy Pelosi and other leading members of Congress don’t think she can win and want her to give up. Same with superdelegate-to-the-stars Donna Brazile.

5. Obama’s skilled, close-knit staff can do things like silently kill re-votes in Florida and Michigan and not pay a political price.

6. Many of her supporters — and even some of her staffers — would be relieved (and even delighted) if she quit the race; none of his supporters or staff feel that way. Some think she just might throw in the towel in June if it appears efforts to fight on would hurt Obama’s general election chances.

7. The Rev. Wright story notwithstanding, the media still wants Obama to be the nominee — and that has an impact every day.

8. Obama might not be able to talk that well about the new global economy, but she (and McCain) can’t either.

9. Many of the remaining prominent superdelegates want to be for Obama and she (and Harold Ickes) are just barely keeping them from making public commitments to him.

10. She can’t publicly say more than 2% of all the things she would like to say about race, electability, beating McCain and experience.

11. If she somehow found a way to win the nomination, she would have to offer Obama the veep slot, and she doesn’t want to do that.

12. This is a change election, and Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton can never truly be change.

13. Obama is having fun most days, and she isn’t.

14. Even though her campaign staff is having more fun than it has for a long time, there’s hardly anyone there who, given half a chance, wouldn’t slit Mark Penn’s throat — and such internal dissension won’t help her in the home stretch.

Boy, she looks a little tired, doesn’t she? Chris Willis, our morning anchor, quizzes her at 6am.

Our intrepid web leader Charlie Ray has called in his reflections on tonight’s debate, noting the high energy of the crowd and the general goodwill toward the candidates.

This crowd clearly was united in its opposition to Bush. But the audience also revealed the split we’ve seen in local polls: Those who are convinced the problem with Washington DC is “business as usual” were on their feet for Barack Obama’s comments. And those who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton keyed off her health care plan and her outrage over the nation’s economy. (Who could miss that comment about the surplus left by her husband that Bush blew through while he was in office?) Policy issues and leadership style were her strength.

(You can see the same split in our forum comments on our main page story.)

The CNN commentators talked about this debate being the “same ole same ole” business that they had heard 19 times in the past. I don’t know about Charlie, but I was struck by how often the two candidates returned to the Valley: veterans; poverty; language; the fence. I don’t know if this is the Dems courting Hispanics. I think it was refreshing to see the candidates acknowledge a part of the state often ignored by the media.

As for the flotsam and jetsam of the event, Charlie says the better seats were reserved for the elected officials, with the best seats reserved by seniority. The venue was packed. The crowd was young. The spirits were high. The crowd didn’t hesitate to jump to its feet when it heard an answer that it liked, and they found plenty to cheer. (Once more, it was Anyone Other Than Bush.)

As Democratic strategist Kelly Fero said, the two candidates are well polished at this point in the campaign. As far as manner and style and presentation, the pundits agreed both Obama and Clinton carried themselves well, even presidential.

And Charlie reports it was a bit of a rock star concert atmosphere. It had that air of a “this is a historic” occasion. After the debate, the two candidates shook hands and signed autographs. Elected officials headed to the Spin Room immediately.

As an aside…The crowd was united in its support of Sen. Kirk Watson, a bit of vindication for our local Senator and “the moment of silence heard ‘round the world.” But Clinton’s cheap shot on Watson’s MSNBC debacle drew hisses… and was balanced by HRC’s final comment, in which she insisted she was honored to stand alongside Obama and that the nation was well served by either candidate that might claim the Democratic nomination.

Current Delegate Count?

Obama       1319

Clinton       1250

Post-debate, I asked Democratic strategist Kelly Fero some questions…

Final analysis?

I think this debate has been a toss-up, with a slight lean toward HRC. Her close just now was emotional and may have won her some points. In general, she was more energetic and dynamic, while he was more low-key and quiet. It was close, just like their poll numbers in Texas.

What about that Xerox for change line HRC used?

It was too contrived, especially in the context of criticizing her opponent for lifting language from others.I’ve helped more candidate than I care to count prepare for debates, and there is always a desire for one-liners that can stop the opponent in his tracks, like Lloyd Bentsen’s “You’re not JFK” line against Dan Quayle 20 years ago.  These lines are rarely effective, and the one tonight seemed to bomb rather dramatically.  In fact, she delivered it without much conviction, almost as if she knew it wouldn’t be well-received.

Did we break any new ground here?

After 19 debates, they have their patter down. 

8:31-Obama tells John he’s wrong. He’s been transparent about all of his earmarks (speaking of ears, Obama…)

8:34-Clinton is listing off what she wants to spend money on… it’s long.

8:35-Jorge asks Clinton if she believes it would be a shame if superdelegates choose a candidate other than who the public chooses. She says it will figure itself out..

8:37-Obama says heck yeah! I’m winning the popular vote!

8:39-Obama’s most testing time, apparently, has been living his entire life.

8:40-Clinton gets the crowd going reminding us, on the down low of course, of Monica Lewinsky.

8:41-But, even that doesn’t compare to our crappy lives, she reminds us. Twice.

8:42-Uhm… Maybe Clinton is getting some speech training from Huckabee. Her faith is driving her to do this.

I’m Mike Huckabee! Remember me? I’m running for president.

8:43-It’s getting sentimental. They shook hands, looked in eachother’s eyes and express their honor to be with each other. Awwwwwwwww!

(Remember the earlier lovefests?)

It’s time to start getting the spin. Off to the spin room! I’ll see you on the tube at 10!

Vince Leibowitz is indefatigable when it comes to blogging over at Capitol Annex. He’s live blogging the debate tonight on his site and Texas Kaos. I asked his opinion of who has the edge in this debate so far:

“I believe, right now, that Hillary Clinton is in the lead. Obama, perhaps by virtue of the order in which the questions are asked, appears to be parroting Clinton’s answers on too many occasions. I think Clinton scored major points on the plagarism issue, which I didn’t expect to see tonight. I was disappointed that the moderators wanted to cut off the debate on health care since both candidates admit they have differences here and this is something people want to hear about. Obama seems a bit uncomfortable in this debate. Right now, I’d say the debate is Clinton’s to lose.”

Derek Barre and Jordan Michalek of Westlake High School are in the Spin Room. I asked them for their observations of the evening:

“The Spin Room is a lot more quiet than I thought it would be. Everyone is either taking notes on their laptops or notepads, or editing pictures that they’ve taken. We didn’t get a chance to get into the spray, so we spent most of our time outside with all the candidate supporters interviewing people, and taking pictures out there. Although, we did run into some big names outside like George Lopez, Lloyd Doggett and Kirk Watson. It’s definitely been a great opportunity being able to spend the day here right in the middle of all the media and craziness surrounding the debate.”

I asked Jordan what a “spray” was….

“We were supposed to be allowed into the spray which is the group of photographers that are allowed to take pictures of the candidates before the debate starts. We weren’t allowed because the Secret Service changed their mind today on how many people they were going to allow in and so there wasn’t enough space for us on the floor. We met and spoke with a couple of local newscasters and yesterday at the walk through we met one of the CNN correspondents, but that’s about it so far.”