The inevitable becomes apparent

Mike Huckabee puts down his bass and drops out of the race - but not before giving a long-winded baseball metaphor.

If John McCain loses in November, expect to hear from Huckabee again in 2012.

Meanwhile, McCain, your official Republican nominee for 2008, is probably working on his own red phone ad right now.

Indeed, I'm expecting the resurgent SNL - a cultural touchstone, according nerdy political pundits - to have a skit Saturday with all three remaining candidates falling over themselves trying to answer that 3 a.m. phone call.

Who will be on the other end? God? Allah? Rove? Land shark?