And on we go.

Yesterday’s primaries didn’t give us a clear leader for the presidential nomination, either for the Democrats or for the Republicans. And that’s a good thing. We still have a lot to learn, from all of the candidates.

But while it’s rewarding to see the enthusiasm that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have generated among voters — and rewarding to see the Democrats’ race come down to a choice between a white woman and an African-American man — there are troubling signs in the Super Tuesday results.

Those results underscore the divisions that continue to exist in this country. We’re divided by ethnicity, by gender, by income, urban and rural. And some of our divisions are particularly troubling. Can Barack Obama win in a national campaign, or will our racial divide get in the way? And are we really not to read anything into Obama’s inability to capture the Latino vote?

“Our time has come,” Obama said as he stood in front of cheering supporters in Illinois. “We are and always will be the United States of America.”

We can hope. We can hope.

1) Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been on their best behavior for the past week, figuring out, obviously, that personal attacks were turning off voters. But the race is so tight now that it wouldn't take much to restart the catfight. Clinton's pushing an intense series of debates, and it's a good bet that Clinton campaign operatives are already looking for ways to bait Obama in those meet-ups and get him to feel defensive and go negative. And Obama doesn't look good when he on the defensive.

2) CNN commentators were saying this morning that Democratic voters say they'll be happy with either candidate. But the Associated Press report seems closer to the truth: that only half of her supporters, and only half of his, say they'll be satisfied with the other candidate.

I much prefer Obama, but if Clinton's the Dems' nominee, I'll vote for her, for sure. And the pouting supporters on both sides need to remember that there are stark differences between the two Democrats and any of the Republicans. They need to listen to the Republicans' comments about staying in Iraq, for instance. And they need to keep in mind that the next president could appoint more than one new Supreme Court justice.

Both candidates will have to figure out how to heal the wounds. And that'll be particularly hard if this race continues to the end of primary season. In that case, the nominee could be chosen at the Democrats' convention. My hunch is that Clinton would get the nomination - courtesy of the super-delegates. The super-delegates are predominantly insider Dems - pols - and the Clintons have spent years creating ties to them.

These connections, in part, are what Obama is talking about when he promises change. It won't be a good thing, for the Democratic Party or the country, if the super-delegates settle this race.

3) Can somebody tell me why conservatives don't think John McCain is one of them? He's anti-choice, pro-Iraq war - conservative on every issue I can think of.

He has incensed Lou Dobbs and that mob, of course, on the issue of immigration, but I hadn't heard that ordinary conservatives are heartless. And the idea of seeking out, rounding up, and deporting all of the undocumented immigrants would be both police-state scary and fantastically expensive. In addition, small-business people are among the most ardent opponents of the Dobbs-type immigration crackdown.

The far-right loudmouths are also upset that McCain joined with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold to push campaign-finance reform. There are legitimate concerns about the McCain-Feingold bill, certainly, but this country has got to find a way to protect free speech and also not have money play the part it plays in elections. That, too, should be something that true conservatives embrace.

It hasn't improved my assessment of the Brooks administration, or my suspicions of Republican Party Chair Steve Minarik's role, to watch the selection of a new public defender play out.

Yes, the law (as a reader has pointed out) says that it's the County Legislature's responsibility to appoint a public defender. But that doesn't mean that a non-partisan committee couldn't have conducted the search and the screening.

That was done successfully in the past, for good reason. And I still maintain that there's only one reason the Republicans have dug in their heels on this: they want the public defender's office to be a patronage source, as it once was.

The Republicans' apparent choice for a public defender, Tim Donaher, is a highly respected attorney, with years of experience in the defender's office. Maybe he can resist pressure from the Minarik machine. We'll see.

Meantime, the all white, all male, predominantly suburban Republicans in the County Legislature have alienated African-American community leaders and turned the selection of an important public official into a racially charged issue. (Now where are those new Republican legislators who promised that they'd be independent?)

Well, there on the Democrat and Chronicle's website are police mug shots of three African-American community leaders: State Assemblymember David Gantt, the Rev. Franklin Florence, and Raymond Scott.

They were arrested this morning at the County Office Building during protests over the selection process for a new public defender.

The photos of Florence and Scott, in particular, made my heart skip a beat. These are men who were front-page news back during Rochester's tumultuous Civil Rights period, fighting for justice in employment and education, fighting police brutality.

In one respect, it is good to see them back, these heroes of Rochester's African-American struggles. In another respect: have we really come no farther than this? That these black men of a certain age still have to protest and get arrested as they seek justice?

Earlier today, the County Legislature's Republican Majority Leader accused legislature Democrats of fostering this activism, of helping organize the protests to create civil unrest during the committee meeting.

I've covered David Gantt's efforts to help the poor in Monroe County for years. I covered the civil-rights efforts of Franklin Florence and Ray Scott years ago. Those men don't need any help from any Democrats in the County Legislature.

And the Republicans in the County Legislature ought to be ashamed of themselves. It is they, and not anyone else, who have created this conflict.

Online, the New Republic's fascinating behind-the-scenes tale of the research and the arguments at the New York Times, leading up to its controversial story about John McCain.