[Solecismic]

It was interesting, too, how Obama gained the nomination. Clinton was holding her own in the primaries, and even had a solid lead in overall popular vote.

But both parties have "superdelegates," a large group of current and former party members, who have votes at the convention. In reality, primaries are only illusions. The real control is in the massing of superdelegates.

Many of them had committed to Clinton early, but the party sensed that the media was very much behind Obama. They also sensed that Obama could reach young voters that Clinton couldn't. So party leaders put a lot of pressure on the superdelegates to pledge to Obama.

The result of those pledge switches was to change the math so that Clinton was out of it early enough not to create tension at the convention.

They offered Clinton a lot to go along with this, because if she had fought all the way through the convention, it would have damaged Obama's campaign considerably. What they offered was a career path designed to get her in the same position in 2016.

The question now, however, is whether she can regain the momentum she had eight years ago. If she can, it's her turn. And the Democrats have the advantage of her husband, who is absolutely the best campaigner they've had in recent memory. The downside is that she doesn't motivate young people the way a fresh candidate might.