It went all the way to May 6. But it's over.

Hillary Rodham Clinton needed a double-digit win in Indiana on Tuesday and either a win or close defeat in North Carolina in order to stay competitive. She got the opposite: a huge defeat in the Tar Heel State and the slimmest of victories in the Hoosier State.

This late in the game, the tie goes to the leader. Even if Clinton were to stay in the race for the final month, Barack Hussein Obama could just run out the clock: His lead in delegates and in the popular vote became insurmountable Tuesday.

Clinton's slender claim to the nomination vanished in North Carolina, which became Obama's firewall. Her only hope was to win more actual votes across the 50 states, and North Carolinians made sure she cannot.

Obama always figured to win North Carolina. Still, it was a dramatic turnaround of fates, after Obama had stumbled into Tuesday being tripped up by his vindictive America-hating pastor Jeremiah Wright, and by Obama's own condescending assessment of everyday voters. And in the days leading up to Tuesday, a photo had surfaced of Obama friend and admitted domestic terrorist William Ayers standing on an American flag.

Meanwhile, Clinton had found her voice and had finally appeared to be in her element going in to Tuesday. Her surprisingly narrow win and her resounding defeat in two of the marathon campaign's last few steps completely blunted her momentum.

And it decided the race once and for all.

The party's so-called "superdelegates" -- party functionaries who get to cast special votes in the race -- cannot now justify siding with Clinton.

Nor can Clinton even make a case for them doing so.

It has been a remarkable, tough, long slog -- a campaign that most expected to be over Feb. 5, but which now has become the longest and one of the closest electoral bouts in American history.

Both of these candidates accorded themselves well throughout most of the seemingly endless campaign, and both managed to pick themselves up off the canvas at various times to fight another round on wobbly legs. Observers lamented the "nastiness" of the fight at times, but we detected few shots below the belt. In truth, the two camps simply waged a pitched battle for the highest stakes in the world: the White House. Why wouldn't they give it their all?

It's hard to recall that Mrs. Clinton was once the presumptive nominee; few experts expected her to fend off a serious challenge. And that makes the race all the more remarkable. There were times when she was even counted out. She showed grit and strength to make it this far. She clearly was not in her element as a candidate at first, but eventually flourished. She should be proud.

Mr. Obama will have a number of questions to answer in the general election -- particularly about the anti-American aura that surrounds him. But he showed himself to be a formidable opponent and relentless campaigner.

Having just finished one marathon, he now must gear up for another.