MORNING READ

by Walter Alarkon - 05/07/08 9:30 AM ET

The Democratic race is all but over, bloggers declare. Barack Obama will become the nominee, and Hillary Clinton must now decide what’s next for her, they write.

Though Clinton supporter Todd Beeton at MyDD sees his candidate leaving the race this week, he’s at peace with the outcome, since primary voters in Indiana and North Carolina made a clear decision. Obama supporter Andrew Sullivan finds the demise of the Clintons at the hands of black voters “poignant” due to the Clinton’s “long-running exploitation and reliance on minority votes.” Even the Clinton backers at TalkLeft are resigned; Big Tent Democrat writes that though Clinton has won the right to exit the race on her terms, she shouldn’t attack Obama anymore.

A few conservative bloggers believe Clinton won’t willingly leave soon. Clinton comes from a family that doesn’t give up a claims to power easily, according to Pejman Yousefzadeh. Though her slender hopes now rest on an Obama catastrophe, Clinton doesn’t lose anything by staying in aside from time and money, writes Ed Morrissey.

But most bloggers are looking ahead to an Obama-John McCain matchup. The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn and Power Line’s Paul Mirengoff see Obama with the advantage. He’s the candidate of hope, much like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were, while McCain’s the candidate of pessimism, Cohn writes. And Obama’s “fundamentals” — the economy, the war and an unpopular president — work in his favor, Mirengoff notes.

A few bloggers looking outside of the presidential race write about the Democrats who won Tuesday’s other primary races and the latest investigation of a federal agency. Daily Kos’s brownsox has high hopes for state Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) after she easily won the right to face Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), who is below 50 percent in general election polls. And Morrissey notes that federal investigators Tuesday raided the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees whistleblowers, and interrogated its chief, Scott Bloch, who has come under scrutiny for questionable spending of public funds.

FROM THE BLOGS:
The Tie Has Been Broken – Todd Beeton, MyDD
Black Voters Did It – Andrew Sullivan, Daily Dish
What Clinton Should Do – Big Tent Dem, TalkLeft
Primary Night – Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
Why Couldn’t Hillary Close The Deal? – R.J. Eskow, Huffington Post
How Long Before Hillary Admits Defeat? – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
‘Yes We Can’ Vs. ‘No We Can’t’ – Jonathan Cohn, The Plank
‘Biggest Fairy Tale’ About To Come True – Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
McCain Nails It On Judges – Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
The Obama Rally, From Two Angles – Mary Katharine Ham, Townhall
Hagan Wins In N.C. Sen., Ind. Gov. Deadlocked – brownsox, DKos
Office Of Special Counsel Chief Needs Lawyer – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air