Look, I don't disagree at all.  She's not merely entitled but rather has every right to continue campaigning as long as she chooses.  (It's no secret that I don't like her, but I'd be the first to defend her if she were told otherwise.)  Hell, even if it became mathematically impossible for her to win, she'd still have the right to fight out any remaining contests.

I'm on-board with the view that we're stealing the limelight from McCain for the moment.  But that is, as I think you'd agree, wholly dependent upon the public perception of how the contest is being handled by Obama and Clinton.  And I do think we're rapidly approaching, if we haven't already passed it, the point at which the public sours and sees it as a childish game of tit-for-tat.  (Good strategy in game theory, not good for winning elections.)  If and when that point is crossed, the contest will need to end quickly if we're to hope for an undamaged nominee.

However, so far, there is little evidence this has damaged her in the polls.

Actually, although I have no idea what's causing it, her favorable ratings are plummeting in the NBC poll to be released tonight that First Read has now written about (down to an all-time low of 37%).  For the record, that's her lowest since March of 2001, when she took office after being pounded as a carpetbagger in New York.

Now, granted, the same poll gives her a statistically insignificant lead over Obama among primary voters (although an also-statistically-insignificant worse showing when comparing O and C against McCain), but there ya go.

My bet -- and it is that I agree with you -- is less a bet that they'll ultimately unite the party.  (I think McCain will do that for them in the end.)  It's more a bet based upon the fact that Dems so clearly outnumber Reps, and that such a huge chunk of Indies lean towards the Dems.  Couple that with the fact that we're in a time when a GOP president is about to preside over his second recession, and when the (unbelievably unpopular) Iraq War is starting to hit the news again with violence rising in Basra, and it's difficult to see how the Dems don't pull it out even after a bitter primary.

That said, I think guys like Kos are kidding themselves if they believe it's in the bag.  We're not going to beat McCain by making him unlikable.  (That's just not going to happen.)  We're only going to beat him by focusing the contest on how incredibly wrong he is on everything.  And that's difficult because of the magic of message (more specifically, blurring).  He's damned good at playing the Old Noble Servant.  (I have to salute the Reps.  They picked their strongest guy, even though they all hate him.)  And that's not easy to counter at a time of crisis, even when the McCains of the world produced it.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.