The same message came through in the screen graphics. For example, ABC pictured Mrs. Clinton with the words "End of the Road?" as co-host Robin Roberts began the show: "This morning, is it over?" NBC’s Matt Lauer also asked "Is it over?" and so did the NBC screen. The segments to follow answered the question with an emphatic yes.
These developments aren’t necessarily anti-conservative or pro-liberal, but viewers could sense a real partisan panic among network pundits that a prolonged Democratic contest is a real danger, a "demolition derby" for Democratic hopes for unity and electability. The network breakdown:
# ABC. Despite his years of work for the Clintons, ABC Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos stuck a fork in them and proclaimed them done:
ROBIN ROBERTS: So the big question of the morning, what happens now? And the New York papers, this is Clinton's home state, you see it there. "Toast" and "Hil Needs a Miracle.
DIANE SAWYER: So, let's get the headline from ABC's chief correspondent...George Stephanopoulos. So, you saw the headlines. Are they right? Is it over?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes. Toast. Hil needs a miracle. That's exactly right. Even though this race is going to go on. Hillary Clinton will keep on campaigning. She's going to campaign in West Virginia today. But this nomination fight is over. Barack Obama has a lead that can't be overcome in pledged delegates. He's brought back his popular vote lead by another 200,000 votes last night. The only way for Senator Clinton to catch him would be to get Florida and Michigan included. That's not going to happen. And what you're going to start to see in the coming days, as early as today, more super delegates will come out for Barack Obama. They will come in three, four, five at a time, and this nomination will be wrapped up.
SAWYER: What about money?
STEPHANOPOULOS: She doesn't have much. And there were some reports that she had to loan her campaign some money. Now as I said, she has enough to keep going on right now. And people close to her say that she's more likely to stay in if she feels cornered in by the party leaders, if they try to push her out too quickly. She wants to get out on her own time, on her own terms. But it's very difficult to go forward. They're only six states left, Diane, 217 votes left. She'll do very well next week in West Virginia, on the 20th in Kentucky. But unless she can win in Oregon, an Obama state, on the 20th, and then have some revelation about Barack Obama come back, on the scale of the Reverend Wright controversy, this thing is over.
Stephanopoulos added that watching Hillary’s victory speech in Indiana was revealing: "you saw on their faces last night, you heard in their words, they know reality here."
# CBS. On the Early Show, co-hosts Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez quizzed CBS pundits Bob Schieffer and Jeff Greenfield. They worried about the Dem race devolving into a "demolition derby" that must be stopped:
SMITH: Here we are at the end of another series of primaries. Still no nominee and a Democratic Party that's growing more divided every day. Bob, this party needs a nominee and fast. What do you think? Will Hillary Clinton get out, and when?
SCHIEFFER: I think only Hillary Clinton knows the answer to that, but I think, basically, Maggie, this race is over. The question is does this demolition derby continue on, because the longer it goes, the wider the divide within the Democratic Party becomes. I think the most important thing anybody said last night was when the Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, Harold Ford, the former Congressman from Tennessee, said these two need to start thinking about the dream ticket. In other words, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seem to -- need to start talking about being on the same ticket. Is that going to happen, I have no idea --
SMITH: Does that seem real to you? Does that seem real to you, Bob? Does that seem like a real possibility to you?
SCHIEFFER: I'm not sure. I'm not sure about that, but I just think that's where you are going to see a lot of people in the party putting pressure on. You're going to see a real run now to try to get some of these superdelegates to come out and endorse Barack Obama. Because mathematically it's all but impossible for Hillary Clinton to get this nomination now. So, what Democrats have to concentrate on, it seems to me, is bringing this to some sort of conclusion, and that be -- may be one of the ways to do it.
# NBC. Today took out the TV equivalent of a yellow Hi-Liter pen and emphasized that Hillary must acknowledge "reality" and surrender:
TIM RUSSERT [video clip]: We now know who the Democratic nominee is gonna be and no one is gonna dispute it.
LAUER: Tim Russert, good morning.
RUSSERT: Good morning, Matt.
LAUER: And who's the Democratic nominee gonna be?
RUSSERT: Barack Obama. I cannot find an objective Democrat who does not think this race is over.
LAUER: Alright you can find Hillary Clinton though and according to her speech last night it's not over.
RUSSERT: They'll continue to try to go on but it's gonna be choreographed. She's gonna have a hard time raising money. She may go on next week to West Virginia, maybe the week after that to Kentucky. But the, the obstacle she confronts, in terms of the delegate count are just overwhelming and they know that. Last night e-mails, Matt, from Democrats who are very loyal to Hillary Clinton saying, "We can't do it. It is over."
NBC and Russert entertained the notion of what the Clintons would say to stay in the race, but they certainly made it clear that they shouldn’t.
