The voters in New York and California — and a few places in between — have spoken. Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush are going to be the presidential nominees for their respective parties.
Super Tuesday was precisely that for Gore and Bush. Gore's chief Democratic challenger, former Senator Bill Bradley, announced his resignation from the campaign Thursday.
Bush's main rival, John McCain, who energized the electorate across the board, is expected to drop out soon.
Aides said he planned to end his run at the presidency by the end of this week.
Far less than half the states have had their primary elections, including Utah, and yet the race is over.
That is unfortunate in particular for those who wanted to express support for some of the candidates who dropped out early — Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Dan Quayle and Utah's own Orrin Hatch, for example.
That brings into question the need to restructure the primary system locally, regionally and nationally, which is examined elsewhere on this page and in Editorial Page Editor Jay Evensen's upcoming Sunday column.
The thoughtful Bradley didn't have much of a chance to unseat the bottom half of the Clinton-Gore team.
When Gore faltered early in the campaign, Bradley's opportunities increased.
But that was before Gore got the backing of organized labor and various endorsements from the minority community.
Plus, Bradley didn't like the trench warfare that has come to epitomize presidential campaigns.
Gore swept all of Tuesday's Democratic contests, even burying Bradley in New York, where Bradley had gained considerable fame as a member of the NBA champion New York Knicks basketball team.
McCain fared a little better than Bradley, winning four of 13 Republican Party contests, but he lost all of the ones that really mattered — California, New York and Ohio.
While it is disappointing that the contest for both parties has been decided so soon, Bradley and McCain are to be commended for causing Gore and Bush to work hard to earn their nominations.
The battle scars Gore and Bush received during the primary battles will harden them for the general election campaign.
It will be like going from the regular season in the NBA to the playoffs — it's going to be much more intense.
Metaphorically, expect elbows and legs to be flying as each candidate tries to damage the other.
But while the NBA regular season is too long, this primary season was too short. For the sake of both parties and the people, it needed to percolate some more before falling flat.
It didn't, and so the race is set.
Voters need to study the two candidates seriously. Do they want someone who probably will follow the philosophy of Bill Clinton or someone whose philosophy will be much more in line with former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush?