he rebellion's over.
For a giddy few months the country flirted with romantic notions. It tried on insurrection for size. It test-drove reform. But in the end - and this morning it looks as if the nomination struggles are all but ended - the nation returned to the politics of the sturdy and steady.
And, after millions of dollars had been spent, millions of words written, millions of soundbites issued, the fight for the right to move into the White House next January returned to where it started: a struggle between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush - two scions of important political families, two favorites of their respective establishments, two men of their parties' centers.
Former senator Bill Bradley, who may leave the Democratic race as early as today, and Senator John McCain, who today is reassessing the future of his campaign, brought frisson, excitement, and new ideas to the campaign. And though the two - imperfect messengers with important messages - suffered massive defeats in balloting across the nation yesterday, their ideas already have been coopted by the establishment candidates.
The two insurrectionists put the front-runners on the defensive, prompted them to cloak themselves in the raiment of reform, tested their toughness and their mettle - and forced them to reveal aspects of their political styles and characters that underlined their weaknesses even as they revealed their strengths.
In some ways the two men who stand in the sharpest relief after the nation's first continent-wide primary are not Bush and Gore but Bradley and McCain, both of whom campaigned against the power of big-money interests, both of whom finally succumbed to the power of that money and those interests. Gore and Bush endured more than prevailed, Gore wearing down Bradley in weeks of relentless assaults against the former senator's health-care plan, and Bush surviving long enough so that his remarkable treasury could overwhelm McCain in a contest whose demands far exceeded the Arizonan's resources and his fabled ability to survive politically from day to day, and state to state.
As a result, the delegate leaders and likely nominees in the two parties are more similar than different, both familiar, both scripted, both baby boomers, both Ivy Leaguers, both famous for being unexciting and unexcitable.
And both have survived. Party leaders like to say that rough fights make their nominees stronger, but that's seldom true and probably isn't true this year, either. Bush and Gore were forced to fight for what they believed was their birthright. In baseball argot, they won ugly.
Bush was long the favorite of Republican elected officials, who liked the idea of the Bush candidacy - a conciliatory persona with an appealing, mainstream message - more than any ideas the Texas governor had. Indeed, they had little notion of what kind of candidate he might be.
Bush's devastating defeat in New Hampshire five weeks ago denied him the easy stroll to the nomination that his strategists planned and that his supporters thought they were financing. Instead, he's battle scarred and weary. The challenges of the campaign didn't so much enhance Bush as raise questions that he will have to answer should he go up against Gore.
The same can be said for his Democratic counterpart. Gore trailed Bradley in New Hampshire in the fall, but in battling back and winning a slender (but, it turned out, critical) victory in the Granite State, he was forced to slash his rival, fight for his liberal credentials and defend himself against attacks on his own credibility.
Both men emerged as candidates who seemed willing to win no matter what it took, or how much it cost. For both of them, the cost was high. Bush lost his image as a naif only to find himself battling an image that he pandered to leaders of the religious-conservative movement and was insensitive to Catholics and minority voters. Gore lost his image as a altar boy only to find himself battling an image that he would stretch the truth and distort a rival's record.
So now - and politics is full of ironies like these - Bush and Gore spent last night in triumph, but in prevailing they have created even more formidable obstacles for themselves.
Meanwhile - another irony - McCain and Bradley suffered personal defeats but saw the ideas they trumpeted gain attention, scrutiny - and support.
Nonetheless the clear winners from Super Tuesday 2000 still were Gore and Bush. The rebellion was riveting while it lasted. But spring's about to begin, and the fling is over.
