The only mother in the presidential race is the only one who didn’t take Mother’s Day off but kept on campaigning. Barack Obama made only one appearance in West Virginia, today, so apparently he isn’t worried too much about losing it big-time tomorrow, more or less on the eve of his claiming the Democratic nomination. But maybe it would be worse if he lost to somebody who isn’t actively campaigining.

Reason editor Matt Welch will be in Suthern California at two events this week, doing talks and book-signings on his book, “McCain, The Myth of a Maverick,” which I reviewed for the Register.

Reason  magazine editor Matt Welch will be talking about his book, McCain: The Myth of A Maverick, at two Los Angeles events this week:

What in the world gets into these people. Bitter gun owners clinging to religion? (Obama) “…working, hard-working Americans, white Americans…” (Clinton)

Why would anyone utter such stuff out loud? James Taranto’s Best of the Web column offers up an explanation:

“Why are they insulting voters? Because at the moment, they are not trying to appeal to voters but to so-called superdelegates, the elected and party officials who will actually decide the Democratic nominee. Both candidates are trying to persuade the superdelegates that they have better prospects in November, and that is why they are referring to the voters in the third person.”

Makes sense to us. But we really like the irony Taranto points up about this:

“In the olden days, of course, these conversations would have taken place in smoke-filled rooms, not in public. Being dragged through this is a fitting punishment for the woman who banned smoking in the White House.”

In case you missed it, we did an editorial on Obama’s win on Tuesday and what it means for the prospects of the Democrats going forward. Key paragraph:

“There appears to be a widening gap among Democratic constituencies. Sen. Obama has deepened his hold on black voters, young people and first-time voters, and highly educated people, while Sen. Clinton has morphed into the beer-drinking, gun-toting candidate of white voters, especially those without a college education, and older women. Exit polls show surprising numbers among both Obama and Clinton voters who say they will not vote Democratic in November if their preferred candidate loses. Many of those will probably come home once the nomination is secured, but will enough of them stay away to hurt Democratic chances?”

What we didn’t include was the fact that far more Democrats than Republicans have voted in primaries this year, indicating much more enthusiasm and intensity of  the part of the Democrats this year. That’s a long way from a guarantee that they’ll win in November, but it’s an important factor.

From Scott Shackford, editor, the Desert Dispatch, Barstow, Calif.

Rasmussen Reports, a well-known polling firm, announced today, “It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.” Therefore they will soon end their tracking of the remaining primaries and and focus on the November race with the assumption it will be Obama versus John McCain.

On the surface, it seems like a risky decision, given Hillary Clinton’s do-anything-to-win tactics. On the other hand, if Clinton does somehow get the nomination, it won’t be because of the primary results anyway, so abandoning the tracking isn’t going to end up getting egg on their faces. I still remember Zogby’s certainty that Bush could not possibly get a second term in 2004.

At the moment, Rasmussen gives the Democrats a 61.7 percent chance of winning the presidency in November.

Hillary in West Virginia sounds as if she has no intention of dropping out of the race ever, but Barack Obama, who visited Capitol Hill today, came away with a couple more commitments from congresscritter-superdelegates. Hillary met with seven of them yesterday but came away with no new commitments. She may be dauntless and persistent, but the establishment is increasingly viewing Obama as the winner.

Herre’s a link to our old colleague John Seiler’s post on the Limbaugh/Obama relationship. John thinks Rush is dead-wrong that Obama will be easier to beat than Hillary, and especially silly calling him an elitist considering his own background and income. Having grown up in Detroit, he thinks union workers will have no trouble at all voting for Obama.

In an earlier post I pooh-poohed the idea that Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” — urging listeners in Indiana and North Carolina to vote in the Democratic primary for Hillary, just to keep the primary contest going as long as possible and to bloody Obama — had any real impact on the race. That was earlier in the evening, before the race narrowed as dramtically as it finally did. With the race that tight, there’s just a chance that the dittoheads had an impact, but it’s difficult to prove one way or another.

Here are the basic facts. Hillary won by only 14,000 votes finally, out of almost 1.5 million votes cast. 10 percent of those voting in the Dem primary described themselves as Republicans, an unusually high rate (it was 5 percent in North Carolina), and they went for Hillary by between 6 and 8 points depending on which exit poll you believe. 6 percent of 150,000 is 9,000, not enough to account for the whole margin of difference but perhaps enough to contribute to it. So although there’s been some commentary and some educated guesses, it’s tough to come up with a definitive answer without interviewing each and every Republican who voted in Indiana. What do you think?

Drudgereport linked to Hillary Clinton’s surprisingly upfront and rather vile racist remarks to USA Today: “‘I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,’ she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article ‘that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.’”

Democrats better get the big hook to pull this crazy woman off of the state. Speaking of crazy, Andrew Sullivan links to a video tirade from a pastor John McCain likes, Rod Parsley. The guy apparently wants an American war against Islam. Given McCain’s war-mongering bent, this is pretty troubling.

Despite Hillary’s brave talk about staying in until the bitter end (which is looking increasingly bitter), and how loaning another $6.4 million to her campaign isn’t a sign of desperation but of commitment, it looks as if all kinds of Democrats are trying to help Hillary find a graceful and dignified way to exit the nomination race before it gets too bitter. Referring to Hill Democrats committed to Hillary, first-term Rep. Jason Altmire, who is uncommitted, said “the air is completely let out of them.” Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a firm Hillary supporter, has hinted that it might be time to go.

What would be the most graceful letdown? Quitting after winning Kentucky May 20 so as to go out on a positive note? Waiting until the rules committee meets May 31? Waiting ’til June 3, the last primary? Ramping down the campaign without actually formally withdrawing, a la Ron Paul, so she’ll be available should Obama melt down between now and the convention?                                            

Some have argued that Hillary is actually going Obama a favor by staying in and contsting, given that the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries will be held anyway, and it wouldn’t look good for the presumptive nopminee to lose to nobody active.