Bodog Beat

Barack Obama is just 184.5 delegates away from the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. (Courtesy Wikimedia)

It looks like the fat lady is doing her vocal warm-ups for Senator Hillary Clinton, who suffered a decisive loss in North Carolina, but earned a slim victory in Indiana. She is now further behind Barack Obama in pledged delegates and the popular vote.

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager has done the math. According to Plouffe, in the six remaining contests, Obama needs 172 delegates to become the party’s nominee – 36 percent of the total remaining delegates, which means Clinton needs 326 delegates to become the nominee – 68 percent of the remaining delegates.

“With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days,” Plouffe wrote in a memorandum to the superdelegates. “While those scenarios may be entertaining, they are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or its millions of supporters, volunteers, and donors.”

Obama will return to Washington for rounds of in-person meetings with uncommitted superdelegates on Thursday, while Clinton is in meetings with them today.

"This nomination fight is over," ABC's George Stephanopoulos said on Good Morning America Wednesday. "More superdelegates will come out today for Barack Obama — they will come three, four, five at a time, and this nomination will be locked up. People close to her say that she's more likely to stay in if she feels cornered in by the party leaders."

Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, told reporters this morning there have been “no discussions” about Clinton dropping out of the race.