March 05, 2008 - Republicans Solidify, Democrats Liquefy

The news for Republicans last night came clearly and quickly: John McCain gathered enough delegates to make him his party's presumptive nominee, and his remaining competitor, Mike Huckabee, appeared in the midst of prime time to deliver a gracious and supportive concession speech.

On the Democratic side, things were much messier. Bad weather and ballot shortages pushed some Ohio precinct closings back a few hours, slowing reportage of results statewide. And while Barack Obama got Vermont at the start, and Hillary Clinton was awarded Rhode Island, the states of Ohio and Texas were such widespread and complex races that analysts everywhere embraced "Too close to call" as a mantra.

At Fox News, at CNN, at MSNBC, anchors and analysts warned of a long night ahead, and the likelihood that, at the end, nothing would be settled, except for moving the goal posts and prolonging the Democratic interparty rivalry.

At 10 p.m. ET, after McCain delivered his presumptive victory speech ("The contest begins tonight!"), more results came in. The results: Too close to call.

Fasten your seat belts, political junkies. It's going to be a bumpy flight.