A sandwich walked into a bar and sat down on a stool. The bartender came over and said “Hey, we don’t serve food here.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton won the Puerto Rico Democratic primary by more than a 2-1 margin. Yesterday, she and Barack Obama split the final two primaries, Obama taking the Montana vote and Clinton taking the South Dakota one. It was clear some time ago, and even more so on Sunday and Monday that Obama was going to be the nominee and had the delegate and super delegate votes in his hand. And yet, he crawled across the finish line just inches ahead of Clinton, and no one seems able or willing to explain this.

After all, you’d think everyone by now would want to be with the winner. It’s the nature of politics that everyone gravitates toward one. Power is not only an aphrodisiac; it has greater pull than the planet’s gravity, and Obama has taken over the party. Yet, notwithstanding his role as the party’s new leader. he can’t shake the Clintons. It’s more than Hillary’s unwillingness to go quietly into the night, too.

After all, she didn’t drive each of those Puerto Rican voters to the election halls, and she wasn’t in South Dakota last night. No one had a gun to each of those voter’s heads forcing them to vote for her. Lots of folks don’t seem to want her to go away, and she’s listening to them. In her public remarks last night, she even exhorted those nearly 18 million folks who voted for her to visit her web site and let her know how they feel and tell her what to do next.

I don’t think it’s the sandwich joke, by the way. I don’t think race has as much to do with Obama’s losses than the answer to the simple question: Is he one of us? His campaign materials and propaganda attempt to portray him as a regular guy, coming from poor origins, understanding what it means to be in need. But, how many regular folk have you met with an undergraduate degree from Columbia and a law degree from Harvard? Oh, we’re told, he had student loans to pay off, as though that nestles him in with us neatly. The loans were used to pay for an Ivy league education, and Harvard graduates aren’t necessarily regular folk. Paying off a student loan for a community college education and paying off a loan for a Harvard education are two very different things. After all, the loan is not the “thing”; it’s the person paying it off that matters, and the advantages that go with the degree.

The more apt joke is the light bulb joke: How many Harvard graduates does it take to change a light bulb? One. He grasps it tightly and the world revolves around him.

And therein might be part of the answer why voters keep giving Clinton her primary victories – - Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico and South Dakota, in the face of Obama’s assured nomination. He isn’t one of us, so to speak. Of course, the argument is there to suggest that Clinton isn’t, either, but she sells herself to that segment of the electorate a lot better than he does. She shows no sign of letting that consituency go anywhere at the moment, too.

As for the general election, it will only get worse for Obama, frankly. He’s younger, taller, better educated, better spoken, and in all ways comes across as far more polished, glib, eloquent and elitist than John McCain. If McCain can avoid factual errors and word choice gaffs, but otherwise become just a wee bit more “regular,” he can shine that elitist spotlight on Obama for the next 4 months. Obama must find a way to overcome that disconnect he has with the Clinton Democrats, and he is going to need her help to do that. Whether that help has to come in the form of a Vice President’s role, or perhaps some lesser role, remains to be seen.

But if he doesn’t convince that voter bloc he’s one of them, the general election will be very a tough fight.