The ever enjoyable bickering between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over the Democratic ticket for the U.S. presidency is over, it seems, as both candidates have shifted their focus from attacking one another to focusing on the downfalls of the Bush brand of politics.

After nearly five long months of pointless arguing, the two are ignoring one another.

But it's not because they no longer claim to disagree on point after point -- Obama thinks Clinton is done, and Clinton is still trying to convince the public that she still has a chance at the ticket.

After the Kentucky and Oregon primaries Tuesday, when both candidates saw striking victories (Obama in Oregon, and Clinton in Kentucky), Obama briefly praised Clinton's efforts to bring women's interests into the spotlight, and then swept the issue aside to attack Republican candidate John McCain's stance on the economy, which Obama implied was naive.

"In her 35 years in public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky," he said in Iowa, just after Oregon's results showed him as the winner. After a few more words about her campaign for feminism, Obama went on to decry McCain's ignorance of the portion of the American public that is suffering from economic downturn by praising the work of the Bush administration.

He basically ignored the fact that Clinton still has a viable campaign (although she has received a lot of flak from pundits and party leaders for dividing the party at this crucial point in the race). After all, he doesn't have the nomination clinched, as he still lacks about 200 delegates. Obama seems to think he's a shoe-in, but the war isn't quite over.

And Clinton took a different look at the statistics that put Obama ahead in the popular vote to claim that she still has a chance. She is counting votes from Michigan and Florida, where she won early in the race. The Democratic Party, however, is not counting those votes, as both states held primaries before the party allowed. She really only won because she was the only candidate who campaigned. The rest of the Democratic candidates didn't campaign in either state. But she still exhibited faith in the uncounted votes.

"Some have said your votes didn't matter, that this campaign was over, that allowing everyone to vote and every vote to count would somehow be a mistake," she said to thunderous cheers in a speech in Kentucky after the ballots were measured in her favor. "You never gave up on me because you know I'll never give up on you."

Obama's ignoring Clinton's viability, and Clinton's ignoring the odds that are quickly stacking up against her.

But it's better than pointless arguing over menial details when the party still has to beat McCain and another four years of the neoconservative regime after that last week in August. Now we just need them to realize the hurdles of their campaigns.