I’m not one of those calling for Clinton to step out of the primary race. I believe the problem is an overlong, complicated primary process much in need of reform.

When the day after the midterm elections began the primary positioning, I despaired at the thought of 24/7/365 campaigning without letup. Frankly, politicians just aren’t that compelling to have to be subjected to campaign twaddle with every breath.

In fact, in most years, one or two dozen states is disenfranchised from meaningful participation in the primary process because Super Tuesday or shortly after usually decides the nomination. Living in one of those states - Oregon - the plight of Florida and Michigan voters draws little sympathy from me. “Welcome to the We-Don’t-Effing-Matter Club,” I think.

Florida’s Senator Nelson is on the right track: 5 or 6 primary dates spaced equally, every four years, the groups in each rotate to a different date, so eventually, everyone’s first and everyone’s last. It’d be nice if there was some normalcy in how delegates are selected, too, though states being states, the latter may be too much to hope for.

But it’s not Clinton’s fault that the primary season stretches on indefinitely. How she campaigns may deserve critique, but continuing the campaign against long odds is every candidate’s prerogative.

Sure, there’s Obama supporters so angry they say they won’t vote for Clinton and there’s even more Clinton supporters saying the same about Obama. And the tenor of the campaign is part of why that’s so. But even that’s not the whole story. Race, gender, and past records account for some of that obstinacy. And how people feel by June 3rd is not a good predictor of how they’ll act on Election Day.

Historically, younger, newly involved voters have been more predisposed to take that fatalist approach if their candidate doesn’t emerge as the nominee. This year, because Obama’s likely to be the nominee, we’ll get to see how well they stay involved in November, which is a much rarer historical event.

And don’t start expecting Clinton to concede the nomination easily. After Pennsylvania, which she’s heavily favored to win, she really needs Indiana at minimum, and probably North Carolina, which will be very hard to do. So if you thought the Reverend Wright flap was bad, you ought to be prepared for another fresh revelation and new line of attack to emerge before that pair of primaries. Because that’s how political campaigning is done when it’s the fourth quarter, and the two minute warning occurs.

The candidate that’s behind starts throwing Hail Marys, hoping for a lucky break. So it’s likely to get contentious all over again. Folks will get apoplectic again. And at the end of it all, a nominee will emerge. Half of the party will sulk. Pundits will ask if the party’s broken.

And frankly, the party won’t be broken, as much as I wish it were. After all, what I want from the nominee is someone who represents me, my family and community and the US of A. The party’s just a vehicle, not the destination. And a good nominee transcends the party. In a time like this, with both a rotten economy that will be held together by chewing gum and baling wire by Bush and the Fed, and the misery of another rotten war around, McCain is a serious underdog. And if Obama and Clinton can’t figure out how to get themselves or each other into the White House, then the party itself is of little consequence, a meaningless label that its members could care less about.

In the next 4 to 6 weeks, we should try to remember what’s happening to our citizenry. Some are dying in Iraq, some are losing their jobs and/or their homes, some go hungry. That’s where our constant focus should be, on what is wrong that’s damaging American lives. No matter what happens between now and June 3rd, if enough voters keep seeing the giant suck at the center of GOP policies, the Democratic nominee will win.

We’re the grassroots. We control the outcome. We exert the influence on the nominees to address the issues more effectively. Neither has a lock on all the best answers and neither will prove astounding if we fail to convince them to listen and hear and take risks and perform. Getting all the dirty laundry aired out in Spring limits the chances of any October surprises occurring, when late revelations are more damaging.

So expect some more ugliness. Politics ain’t watercress sammiches.

And after this election, reform the stupid primary system to limit the torturous grind of it for future voters and future candidates. That, and papertrail ballot reform, conspire against a happy process and can undo the popular will more than stupid candidate tricks will.