The rush of primaries this week all but handed the Republican nomination to John McCain, but the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is going to drag on, at least for weeks and perhaps for months. The risk for the Democrats is clear. Mr McCain can start to rally support among the party’s conservatives and evangelicals – at best cool towards him – and begin campaigning against the Democrats. Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama will be concentrating on each other.

This is not how it was supposed to be. It was the Republicans who lacked a candidate with broad appeal across the party. It was the Republicans who, demoralised by the unpopularity of the Bush administration and longing in vain for an heir to Ronald Reagan, would expend their depleted energies on internecine squabbles. Just a few weeks ago, the idea that they would rally round John McCain – author of an attempted amnesty for illegal immigrants, and other liberal outrages – would have seemed fantastic. But to an astonishing degree, they have. So today it is the Democrats who are wondering how much damage they might inflict on themselves between here and November.