Opinion: No election night speech from Barack Obama, just a message

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What has become part of the theater of watching the primary and caucus results in the Democratic presidential race -- dueling speeches by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- will be missing an act tonight.

Obama was long gone from West Virginia -- after spending only a few hours of personal campaigning in a state where it was apparent to all he would lose, bigtime, to Clinton in its primary today. And rather than try to make the best of the outcome before a friendly crowd somewhere else, he decided to simply yield the spotlight to her.

After a campaign event this afternoon in Cape Girardeau, Mo., he headed off for Michigan, where he will campaign (with the general election in mind) on Wednesday. According to his spokewoman, shortly before his charter flight departed Missouri, he left a message on Clinton’s cell phone, offering congratulations for her West Virginia showing.

-- Don Frederick

[UPDATE: The Times’ Michael Finnegan, with the Obama campaign, reports the candidate clarifies that he left the congratulatory voicemail on the cell phone of Clinton’s personal assistant.]