What Next?

For starters, it won’t be a good night for Barack Obama or his surrogates, those men and women sent out to spin a huge loss in West Virginia while Obama makes no remarks on the vote. No matter the math, it’s never good for presumptive nominees to get crushed. No storm of superdelegates — and it will likely be raining big names tomorrow — can answer the question of why Obama can’t win West Virginia, or even keep it close.

But we know all about the math, and the fact that Obama gets the amount of delegates Hillary Clinton will win in West Virginia (five) about every 36 hours now in superdelegate endorsements. There is no catching up, no matter how much Mountain Staters love Hill.

So we are left with the unanswered question — what next? In the New York Post today a hint appeared. Charles Hurt, Washington bureau chief for the Post, reported that Hillary mailed a video to supporters thanking them and stating, “And now it’s on to West Virginia and Kentucky and Oregon, and we’ll stay in touch.” According to the Post, Clinton’s message stops there without mentioning the upcoming and final three primaries, in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota, which her campaign continues to tout as a necessary step in the preservation of democracy, as well as her popular vote count.

Does this mean her expected win in Kentucky could be it, next Tuesday, May 20? That is the night Obama plans to declare victory with a majority of pledged delegates. And after that, will Clinton merely stay in touch, or fight to count Michigan and Florida and ultimately make her Electoral College argument to the party? Is she packing a punch, or packing it in?

What do you think ?

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ASK A.B. returns BEFORE Kentucky votes — Monday, May 19! Please join my weekly video Q & A by sending questions and comments to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.