For Dems, it's personal from now on

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both speaking at the North Dakota Democratic Convention tonight. The state is thrilled that two national political candidates are appearing. With just three electoral votes, North Dakota generally doesn't receive a whole lot of attention in national races.

But this year is different, of course, because it's April 4 and the Democrats still don't have their nominee for president. The eventual outcome of this race is being discussed endlessly online and in traditional media, so I'm not sure what I can add to the discussion. But this one observation sticks in my mind...

The policy discussion between these two candidates was over long ago. We know where each stands, inside and out, on all major campaign issues. After nearly 20 debates, there is nothing left to say about healthcare, Iraq, the economy.

Where does it go from here? The only place it can: personal. Expect to hear much more about Rev. Wright, Bosnia exaggerations, bowling scores and whatever other issues-of-the-day arise that have nothing to do with policy differences or even delegate counts. At this point, it's all on the table and it will be about character and habits and whether one can create a negative impression of the other.

The Democrats would do themselves a favor by resolving this thing sooner rather than later. But don't hold your breath. If anyone thinks Hillary Clinton will drop out, they are kidding themselves. And why should Obama drop out? He's ahead. Will Howard Dean step in and rescue his party? Not a chance. Doesn't have the clout. How about Al Gore? Maybe; he is the only one in this equation who could anoint the nominee. But that seems a long shot.

If we've learned anything this campaign season, it's that we shouldn't make predictions. But this one just feels like it's going to be a bloody battle all the way to the Democratic convention at the end of August. Over four long months from now.