Clinton rode to Capitol Hill on the momentum from Tuesday's landslide victory in the Pennsylvania primary. In his most impressive northern-state showing, Clinton picked up 57 percent of the vote and 112 of 169 Democratic delegates.
Rep. Robin Tallon, D-S.C., said Clinton's big victory went a long way toward easing worries that questions about Clinton's character would make him a weak nominee.
"Bill Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States," Tallon said. "It is time for all Democrats to come together."
Jerry Brown, who garnered only 26 percent, wasn't rolling over. In Omaha for the May 12 Nebraska primary, he promised to continue the race even while conceding it's unlikely he can deny Clinton the nomination.
Clinton, after a day of arm's-length courting, picked up 31 more endorsements from congressional super-delegates, pushing him to within 591 of the 2,145 delegates needed to lock up the nomination.
Still, he has commitments from less than half - 119 - of the 262 members of Congress going as delegates to the Democratic convention.
Nor has he won over the Democratic governors in four large states that are key to his general election strategy - Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas - even though he has now won all of those state primaries.
The best Clinton has managed from those state governors has been a halfhearted nod of approval from New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Even that is better than the outright antagonism of Gov. Casey before Tuesday's vote. He urged uncommitted delegates to remain neutral so "a stronger nominee can be selected" at the national convention in mid-July.
Congressional leaders were having none of that talk.
Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell and House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt proclaimed Clinton as the nominee and predicted he would beat Bush and end "divided government."
