A Clark aide just announced a few minutes ago that after considering the most recent primary results, retired general Wesley Clark has decided to drop out of the race, and will make the official announcement tomorrow. Clark scored third in both Virginia and Tennessee, and despite coming out way ahead of Howard Dean in those states, he still has only half of Dean’s number of delegates. Clark was probably hoping for at least second-place victories. The question remains, was his decision fully independent, or was more spoken during his phone conversation with John Kerry than we have been so far told?

Dean, in the meantime, is likely to stay in past Wisconsin now, despite twin pastings in the south (with 4% and 7% showings, both distant fourth place finishes) and his former statement that Wisconsin is make-or-break (I guess it was a fundraising “ploy” after all). He is second in the delegate count, with 182, a bit ahead of Edwards’ 163, but far, far behind Kerry’s 510. Although things could indeed shift, I would be very confident now to call the race for Kerry, unless something huge happened. I do not believe there will be any more unpredicted sudden shifts like we saw in Iowa, despite Dean’s hopes for such an event. Sharpton and Kucinich, just specks on the delegate horizon now (12 and 2 respectively), are presumably staying in for recognition power.