http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022902787.htmlBy David S. Broder
Sunday, March 2, 2008; Page B07
In the final moments of what may turn out to have been the last debate of the Democratic presidential campaign, Barack Obama paid gracious tribute to his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Invited by NBC's Brian Williams to specify what questions Clinton still had to answer "to prove her worthiness as the nominee," Obama said, "I don't think Senator Clinton has to answer a question as to whether she's capable of being president or our standard-bearer." He described her as "qualified" and "capable" and said that "she would be worthy as a nominee."
Hillary Clinton in Ohio Thursday. (Carolyn Kaster - AP)
Obama was returning the compliment Clinton had paid, when she said at the end of their previous debate that she was honored to share the stage -- and this long battle -- with him.
The Ohio and Texas primaries are still to come, and if Clinton wins both, the nomination fight will go on. But given what former president Bill Clinton has said about his wife having no margin for error in those two states, it is possible that last Tuesday's debate will have been her last.
It has been a strange and remarkable journey, from her early status as the favorite for the prize to this moment of desperate necessity. But as I look back on it, Hillary Clinton has performed impressively. She has nothing to apologize for in her own campaigning and has much of which she can be proud.
A lesser candidate might have cashed in her chips after her humiliating third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Instead, Clinton redoubled her efforts and pulled out a victory in New Hampshire that astonished even her own staff.
FULL story at link.