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Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination. Magnanimous Democrats might applaud Hillary Clinton for energizing the party and helping to register millions of new voters, but her contribution was not merely to her own side.

Clinton’s failures and successes provide some invaluable lessons for John McCain as well—if he’s alert enough to heed them.  read more »

The news of John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama was reported as Hillary Clinton addressed her top donors in her Washington, D.C., home today.

"It actually broke during the meeting, and I was passing my BlackBerry around when NBC confirmed it," said one donor in the room. The reaction of the fund-raisers in the room was mixed, according to the bundler. "Some people said, 'Shit, now we have to deal with this?' Other people said, and I agree with this, 'Who cares? Maybe if he did it two months ago. But now who cares?'"

Someone in the room sought to inform Clinton of the news by declaring out loud "Edwards has just endorsed Obama," according to the donor.  read more »

On a recent Saturday night, I did a little experiment: I broke the rules of youthful social engagement and went to a bar by myself. I sat in the dimly lit courtyard behind Union Pool in Williamsburg. I made myself available, quietly sipping a pint of Blue Moon.

By 11, small groups had perched themselves all around me on wooden benches chatting about their lives, jobs and families. A group of three pretty ladies gossiped vehemently about their film industry jobs. I sat nearby in my frilly dress eavesdropping. After an hour of enjoying the warm weather, and having not made any new acquaintances, I made my way to sit at the bar. Again, no luck. Rarely are Brooklyn's local watering holes a place to meet new people these days. The age-old complaint of post-college social isolation was now fresh in my mind.

While advising me about my love life, my mother always likes to tell stories about her youthful evenings spent at her local singles bar. The rules of engagement are much different now. It's been a long time since there were social mores about which gender approaches the other, pays for dates or makes the first move on a first date. A cursory glance at Craigslist's missed connections section proves that many 25- to 35-year-olds, especially recent transplants, don't necessarily have the stones to introduce themselves in person.  read more »

EMILY's List, which supports Hillary Clinton, reacts harshly to what it calls the "tremendously disrespectful" endorsement of Barack Obama by NARAL.

The following is a statement from EMILY’s List president Ellen R. Malcolm on NARAL’s endorsement in the Democratic presidential competition:  read more »

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John Edwards’ endorsement of Barack Obama matters because the media is treating it like it does. Twenty-four hours after Hillary Clinton celebrated a 41-point landslide victory in West Virginia, the press now has fresh reason to speculate about a final death blow to her campaign, creating a narrative that could unleash the decisive superdelegate flood the Obama campaign has been waiting for.

But, really, is this huge—or even surprising—news? Obama was going to win the nomination with or without Edwards’ backing.  read more »

Matt Bai's article on John McCain for this Sunday's New York Times was just released online.

Among other things, Bai reports that there is a quietly held belief among some of the other Vietnam veterans in the Senate that McCain is an unwavering backer of the war in Iraq, essentially, because prison spared him many of the embittering experiences of Chuck Hagel, Jim Webb and John Kerry:  read more »

I asked Joe Trippi, a former senior adviser to John Edwards, why the North Carolina senator decided to endorse Barack Obama today.

He said he didn't know the motivations. He wanted to talk impact.

"I don't know why, I just know it's big," he said. "I don't know what other endorsement you'd really want right now. He is Mr. Blue Collar. His whole life has been fighting for blue-collar people."  read more »

This reporter was witness to some tense moments at the Chelsea Hotel over the weekend, including a verbal confrontation (pictured above) at the front desk between hotel vice president David Elder and hotel tenant Arthur Nash.

No punches were thrown, but the incident clearly spooked Mr. Elder. In recent days, a new security detail has been patrolling the hotel’s lobby and hallways. The hulking guys in suits have been particularly attentive to Mr. Nash.

The initial standoff happened during the second night of a photography exhibit entitled “Chelsea Hotel Through the Eyes of The Photographers,” scheduled to coincide with the historic hotel's 125th anniversary. But it also came at a time of lingering tensions inside the iconic lodge.

Mr. Elder is at the center of the controversy. It was his 2005 lawsuit that ultimately resulted in the highly-publicized ouster of longtime manger and majority owner Stanley Bard. Thus, he has taken the brunt of some residents’ anger. “Greed” has been scrawled on his door; excrement left on his doormat—someone even sent him a dead fish in the mail. And, the hotel blog, Living With Legends, has fervently chronicled Mr. Elder’s longstanding California court battle with his elderly father-in-law, the writer Piri Thomas, over more than $1 million in dividends reaped from hotel profits.

“I’m not doing an interview,” Mr. Elder said on Saturday, mingling with guests just one night after he was chased from the exhibit hall by a masked doppelgänger dressed in a hotel bathrobe. (A stink bomb had earlier disrupted the show.)  read more »

Amanda Peet can't get enough room for herself and her stroller on the Philly-New York Acela train. [P6]

When resourceful socialite Lydia Hearst can't get a little champagne, she simply mixes white wine with club soda. [P6]  read more »

On a conference call today, the Clinton campaign argued that after her victory in West Virginia–and counting the votes in Florida and Michigan–Hillary Clinton now leads in the popular vote. "Hillary Clinton has now moved ahead in the popular vote," said campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe. (In that calculation, the Clinton campaign is not awarding any Michigan votes for the "uncommitted" choice to Obama, who was not on the ballot there.)  read more »

“It is a fact,” Clinton said in her victory speech, “that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia.”

It’s a line the Clinton campaign has been pressing relentlessly this past week in anticipation of her blowout victory there tonight.

And it’s true that no Democrat since Woodrow Wilson has won the presidency without West Virginia. But the exact same is true about Minnesota – a state where Obama crushed Clinton back on February 5. And Minnesota is every bit the swing state that West Virginia is. (Actually, it’s more of one: In 2004, George W. Bush won West Virginia by 13 points, while John Kerry won Minnesota by three. Plus, Minnesota is worth twice as many electoral votes – 10 – as West Virginia and its five.)

So what does Clinton’s argument really mean? Based on the states-we’ve-needed-since-1916 standard, Democrats would pick up West Virginia with Clinton, but wouldn’t Minnesota then be at risk – meaning a net loss of five electoral votes?  read more »

And another one drops at the Washington Post! Michael Calderone at Politico is reporting that legendary writer David Broder is the latest to take a buyout from the paper, though he'll remain on contract. The 78-year-old Broder told Calderone there were two reasons he's leaving: (1) he can get off the newsroom budget, and help them save a little dough and (2) they're giving him a "generous" package.  read more »

Fashion Week Daily has confirmed that Nina Garcia has accepted an offer from Hearst Corporation and will be joining Marie Claire as its new fashion director in the fall. Meanwhile rumors about Marie Claire replacing Elle as Project Runway's sponsor still have not been confirmed, but a source tells FWD that "negotiations are just starting, if even that," and that Ms.  read more »

When asked at a press conference in the Bronx whether he would support Vito Fossella for re-election, the mayor said he'd consider it.
"If he ran and he'd ask me, I'd have to think about it," Bloomberg said.  read more »

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The rumors are running wild in D.C. that sometime later this week, Post editor Leonard Downie will take a buyout and step down. A short-list of candidates is making its way around, and Michael Calderone at Politico sizes it up.  read more »

Who is Rivka Galchen, M.D.? The author of Atmospheric Disturbances, which according to Leon Neyfakh is, "a winding, psychological quest story involving weather control, quantum theory, and an intricately calibrated, radically counterintuitive conception of space and time..." She also may be the new Thomas Pynchon. PLUS: The return of Mark Leyner.

Choire Sicha bravely asks, "Why can’t men write anymore?" According to Mr. Sicha, "A little penis, it turns out, can be a dangerous thing. But it’s not crazy at all to feel bad for the young male writers of our time, despite all they have done to us with their books. There are these legends that loom; all women, all terrifying."  read more »

John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama.

The D.N.C. announced a joint fund-raising agreement with both Democratic campaigns.

Cherie Blair praises Chelsea Clinton in her new book.

Joe Klein says Joe Lieberman is the new Zell Miller.  read more »

Jason Horowitz attends an Upper East side gathering of donors--some of them Clinton supporters--with David Axelrod, the Obama campaign's chief strategist.

Steve Kornacki notes that Bill Clinton, like Obama, emerged as the Democratic nominee after a damaging primary campaign.  read more »

At the unveiling of a playground initiative at a school in the Bronx just now, Michael Bloomberg was asked about the involvement of the House judiciary committee in reviewing police procedures in the wake of the Sean Bell incident.

The mayor made it clear that he didn’t regard it as helpful. “This is a police department that works and doesn’t exactly need more oversight [from the federal government],” he said. He also said that the judiciary committee should look into the police departments in other cities where the crime rate is higher.