State of the Race: 154 Days To Go

"NEW JERSEY!!!"

23 0 Delegates Until Herstory is Made: After an overwhelming victory in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a big landslide in Puerto Rico this weekend, Hillary Clinton was just a tiny step away from securing the nomination in New Jersey. Hillary HQ was preparing to call the nomination for her at 8pm ET when the polls closed in that state, but the AP had other plans. In fact, I was in the process of writing this very post when the news broke and had to ditch most of what I wrote as a result.

But hey...I can't complain too much, because we have a nominee and tonight's definitely gonna be one hell of a party.

Obama to Sanders - "It's Over": Via CBS News:

President Obama called Sen. Bernie Sanders Sunday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the conversation, reports CBS News' Julianna Goldman. ...

The call between the two lasted 30-45 minutes, CBS News' Nancy Cordes reported. Sanders also spoke with the president by phone in mid-May.

The Vermont senator took the president's call on the side of the road in the financial district in San Francisco, at around 2:30 p.m. ET. Atwood said that as the press bus drove by, Sanders could be seen standing on Market Street, legal pad in hand, as he talked on a cell phone.

And here's more from NBC's Kasie Hunt:

Bernie Sanders was scheduled to take a call from the White House on Sunday as he sprinted through California

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 6, 2016

The day was outwardly cheerful: Mobbed by fans on the Santa Monica pier, Sanders rode the carousel there with his grandchildren

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 6, 2016

But whatever message President Obama delivered, it wasn't cheerful for the Sanders campaign: The mood soured, and he huddled with wife Jane

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 6, 2016

Sanders' actions after Tuesday are still unknown. But it's clear: Sunday was a turning point, in part because of Obama

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 6, 2016

Then there's this completely unsourced tweet from a pretty smart guy at Vox:

Bernie’s going to concede on Friday.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 6, 2016

It's hard to know exactly what to make of this right now, but perhaps we'll know more very soon. Whatever the case, the Sanders campaign is reaching its conclusion.

Total Trump Meltdown: It kinda feels like the whole Donald Trump thing has been steadily going up in flames since Hillary's masterpiece speech last week. Pretty amazing to witness, actually. This video from the Clinton campaign sums up the unfolding disaster nicely:

.@realdonaldtrump's bigoted comments about a Latino judge are so disgusting, even other Republicans are offended.https://t.co/3CEBq2jsDh

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 6, 2016

Then the news from today:

BREAKING: U.S. Senate Republican leader McConnell says it's time for Trump to stop attacking various minority groups

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) June 7, 2016

And:

If ever there were a moment for Republicans to jump off the Trump train, now would be as good of a time, according to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham wants fellow Republicans who have endorsed Donald Trump to take it all back in the wake of his repeated claims that Judge Gonzalo Curiel's heritage make him unfit to preside over lawsuits against him.

“This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” Graham told The New York Times. “If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it,” he added. “There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough sounded a similar note on "Morning Joe" earlier Tuesday, remarking that senators running for re-election could be forced to reevaluate their stated support of Trump as the party's nominee if he continues to make comments like the ones about Curiel.

...while simultaneously, the Democrats are set to unite behind the first-ever woman nominee for a major party in the history of our nation. 

Anyway...good luck with all that, GOP.

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