The quote attributed to the great New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra may have had its origin in a question directed to him with a tie score in late innings: "when will it be over, Yogi?" A similar situation is taking place today and on until the presidential primary season is finally and mathematically finished. The candidates have fought and wrangled for over a year, sharing flush victories and glum defeats, feeling the highs and lows of politics in a media crucible. Obama has --perhaps prematurely -- been declared the victor by some on the basis of total popular vote, regular and the so-called "Super" delegate count. With Clinton's unsettled claim for the total votes of Michigan and Florida and the distinct probability of dirty tactics from either side, it must be left unsettled until which ever candidate earns the total magic number of votes prior to or at the Convention. At this late stage in the proceedings, we look to Obama as having the greater probability of being selected to run against McCain during the summer and fall. We do not discount the likelihood of some chicanery by his opponent when the great convocation takes place in August.

Isn't there a better way to select a nominee for the highest office in the land? This media circus is an all-pervading, intrusive clamor month after month which somehow captured our acceptance of watching their pundits prognosticate and pontificate to many a late-night-fare-thee-well. True, it represents our national quadrennial drama which plays nowhere else on earth, and it gets us reacquainted with some politicians and the rare statesman/woman once more. We listen to the contrived "debates" and we wonder who "won" until the experts lay out their opinions and we patiently wait for the next such contests. And when the field was so full, early on, we were entertained with some of the goofiest prattle about how they'd run the country. (Some were better even than "American Idol" -- which show is responded to by more voters than the general election.)

Once the hoopla from the party conventions is history, we'll then have to endure the campaigns from the nominees all the way to November 4, when all the sound and fury will cease for an interval of blessed peace. ONLY IN AMERICA!