The ticket may in the end be Clinton/Obama.

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Not through any real fault of Hillary or Obama themselves, the campaign is becoming racialized. For one thing, Obama now is in the process of shoring up his support amongst blacks (the Pentacostal visit, Michelle's "ain't no black folks in Iowa" comment) just as Hillary felt the need to shore up her support amongst women in New Hampshire (semi-crying, "I've found my voice.") And why not? Hillary's support amongst women was weaker than it should have been, as Obama's support amongst blacks (up until recently) was also relatively weak.

A racialized atmosphere is unfortunate, but was perhaps inevitable. But when Hillary takes the nomination, which she will, she will need the new, Jacksonized Obama with her. Obama's "beyond race" appeal is fading. His base will soon be the black vote, rather than the upper-income "Latte Liberal" vote. When it comes to the general election, the Latte Liberals will vote Democratic anyway: that segment of the Democratic Party is used to not getting it's way - it's candidates always end up as also-rans (Hart, Tsongas, Jerry Brown, Bill Bradley, even Howard Dean) but those upper-income Democrats are reliable voters, and will come home to the fold by November. The black vote is another story: they won't vote for the Republican, but they MIGHT stay home in droves. The election in November is likely to be another close-run thing. Democrats will need an energized black electorate to win.

It's a little ugly now, it will get uglier, but in the next month or so, our nominee will be chosen. Hillary will be the chosen one. By the time the convention rolls around in the distant summer of this year, the friction between Hillary and Obama will have faded. At that point, Hillary will be more than willing to take Obama as her VP, and he will be more than willing to accept that offer.