Here's a news flash for all the analysts, editorial writers and pundits who are bursting a vein because people keep voting for Hillary Clinton, even after their betters have told them not to: People vote for Mrs. Clinton because they like and/or respect her (!), they think she's more ready for the job than Barack Obama, and because she still has a chance to win.

Apparently, these reasons are too obvious and straightforward for the commentariat to grasp. They prefer to cast Mrs. Clinton as some kind of she-vampire, feeding off the blood of the innocent hero in order to keep herself alive until the next sunset.

What balderdash. Maybe these guys (and they are mostly guys) are losing it under the strain of a long campaign, but the media used to love a good horse race. Now that they've got one, some of them are acting as if their frail hearts can't take the competition.

This protracted race is bad for the country! they sputter. It'll weaken the candidates and destroy the Democratic Party!

Or ... Hillary can't win without the superdelegates, and that wouldn't be fair! She must drop out now!

Of course, Mr. Obama can't win without the superdelegates, either. Despite a huge fund-raising edge, he hasn't been able to knock out Mrs. Clinton. For all his victories in states that will likely to go Republican in November, he hasn't closed the deal in the big states that Democrats traditionally need for victory in the general election. And yet nobody's ordering him to drop out.

Well, he shouldn't. And neither should she. The real reason both candidates are still in the running is because the electorate wants them there. Otherwise, the voters would have chosen decisively by now.

Yes, the contest is long and bruising. It was bound to become so because the two of them are so alike on the issues they have to find other ways to differentiate themselves. If that means trench warfare, so be it. The arrows they direct at each other are nothing compared to what the Republican attack machine will be slinging at the eventual nominee.

Mrs. Clinton has already shown she can bear up under incredible pressure. Mr. Obama needs to show the same mettle. If this race gives him that chance, it's all to the good. And he had better get really adept at parrying the thrusts over his former minister and his "bitter" comment (which was true but stunningly ill-considered for a pol in a tight race), because if he's the nominee, the GOP will be trotting them out at every opportunity.

His call to change the tone of Washington is admirable, but there are two sides to every campaign. When one starts slinging mud, the other side had better be ready.

Anyone who wants this race to morph into a polite minuet needs to remember two words: John Kerry. As the presumptive nominee almost from the get-go, he never had to defend his positions or go on the attack. And when the GOP swift-boating began, he was completely unprepared.

Way too much of the commentary following Mrs. Clinton's 9.2-point win in the Pennsylvania primary ignores this reality. If you believe this newspaper's editorial page, for example, the people who favored Mrs. Clinton were deluded, backward-looking, old-style voters who "didn't think it through."

That's a direct insult to my mother, and she's not taking it lying down.

"Don't tell me I didn't think it through," she said. "I thought it through plenty. I agonized over who I wanted and why."

My mom, I should explain, will be 87 next month. She is independent, busy and vital, still cooking dinners for 10, visiting ailing friends and relatives, even walking our dog when we can't get home in time.

She has never missed a primary vote or general election in her life. She's informed on the issues and the candidates. She reads the papers and watches the debates. She has never given her vote away cheaply or thoughtlessly.

"I voted for Hillary because she's a woman of intelligence who can take charge," she said. "She has the background in politics and the world. She's got more depth and understanding and broader horizons, and she's tough enough to stand up to all the invective they're throwing at her.

"I thought it through a lot and still came to the same conclusion. And even if I hadn't thought it through, all the poisonous things they're saying about her would have pushed me to her. She doesn't deserve that.

"I do like the idea of a woman being president, but I also think she's the right person for the job. All those things they accuse her of, I cast them aside. They're not related to her abilities."

Mom still likes Barack Obama, and if he's the nominee, she said, "I'll not only vote for him, I'll fight for him." But as long as the race was still under way, she wanted to choose the candidate she thought was best.

This race will be over when it's over. Any stalemate will have to be resolved by the party; the winner and loser will have to form a united front and work like hell to quell the hurt feelings and bring their troops in line behind the nominee because that's the only way to wrest the White House from the party of mass destruction.

In the meantime, we don't need anyone falling on her sword. Or, I might add, insulting mothers.