Not Dead Yet   

Online Exclusive »   The political conventional wisdom takes another hit.

Hold those obits.

For weeks political coverage has been dominated by the notion that the Clinton Era was, at last, over. Hillary's campaign was toast. Obamarama was unstoppable.

The overriding question was when would Clinton take herself out of the game (and plenty in the commentariat urged her to do so). Get it over with already, was the prevailing mood.

Then, once again, the voters weighed in.

And, like Hillary is Dead I (post-Iowa), McCain is Dead and the somnambulant Fred Thompson is the second coming of Ronald Reagan, The Official Media Narrative was inoperative.

On Really Important Tuesday, Clinton didn't run the table, but she came close. She clobbered Barack Obama in too-close-to-call Ohio and edged him in Texas, continuing her mastery of the big states. She trounced him in Rhode Island (where the race was said to be tightening). Obama's only victory was in war-hating Vermont.

While Obama may have sealed the deal in the media, he clearly hadn't with the voters. Clinton regained control of her base, the voters who had begun slipping away to Obama during his post-Super Tuesday winning streak.

That said, Clinton's quest remains an uphill struggle. Obama still maintains a healthy lead in the pledged delegates; the small inroads Clinton made yesterday are likely to be offset by the Wyoming caucuses Saturday and the Mississippi primary next Tuesday.

But it's also clear that many in the media and political worlds were eager to call off the fight before it was over. Once again, the conventional wisdom was putting two and two together and ending up with five. And while jumping to premature conclusions is rarely a good idea, it's particularly unwise when it involves betting against the Clintons, whose resolve and supply of comebacks appear to be bottomless.

And while predictions are always pretty risky, this one is probably pretty safe: The conventional wisdom will be wrong again, big time, before this campaign is over.