Apparently we will have to wait until Monday for Hillary to drop the other shoe, as Friday’s usually fatal Happy Hour featured only things to be cheery about.

First, three significant players in the Democratic Party - including the popular economic sage of the Clinton administration, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich - endorsed Obama late today.

Former Clinton Cabinet member Robert Reich said Friday he was endorsing Barack Obama — and not Hillary Rodham Clinton — in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Two other Democratic elder statesmen, former Sens. Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma, also said they were supporting the Illinois senator.

Reich brings a lot of weight with him, especially given that his middle-of-the-road, progressive policies appeal to a wide audience of American consumers. A Rhodes scholar and close Clinton friend, Reich is also a frequent commentator on NPR, where he speaks with an economist’s pragmatism and a comedian’s wit, urging powerful pro-middle class approaches to today’s ills.

Nunn and Boren are centrists as well, with national security backgrounds nearly unrivaled in today’s political scene.

In this, Reich, Nunn and Boren bring a lot to Obama’s arsenal: They are Democrats with gravitas, politicians with singularly extensive experience and centrists who can court independents and swing voters. Boren spoke eloquently to this latter point; what I consider to be perhaps most attractive of Obama’s qualities:

“Our most urgent task is to end the divisions in our country, to stop the political bickering, and to unite our talents and efforts. Americans of all persuasions are pleading with our political leaders to bring us together. I believe Senator Obama is sincerely committed to that effort. He has made a non-partisan approach to all issues a top priority.”

The second big news item to break was a synopsis of the effects I’ve been covering in the last three “Battle of the Bull” articles - that Obama has emerged from this long road of trials only stronger for having endured them. Though diehard opponents to the Democrats may have a few more cartridges of ammunition in their larder, Obama’s reasoned and mature responses to his crises has inspired talk of elevating politics above scandal. Whether or not this will be the result, he has undoubtedly been tempered and proven tough.

Newsweek covers the story succinctly with the results of a poll showing Obama soaring above Clinton:

The survey of 1,209 registered voters found that Obama now leads Clinton by nearly 20 points, or 54 percent to 35 percent…

And lastly, the wire services have been abuzz with a piece rehashing Clinton’s woes - focusing on the inevitability of her defeat.

Clinton leads in Pennsylvania polls in advance of Tuesday’s primary there, with 158 convention delegates at stake. A victory is essential to her chances of winning the nomination, but far from sufficient.

It is in that paragraph that the crucial tone is found: That short of a blowout victory, Clinton will not be seen as changing the sure course of Obama’s rise to the candidacy. Even with such a victory, he still seems overwhelmingly likely. She cannot win PA for winning. The death knell has been struck.

Today ends with the clink of glasses rather than the crash of a kitchen sink, but surely the claws will come out. Clinton will deliver the hardest blow of her Tonya Harding Offensive some time soon, likely at late on Monday. Then we’ll see whether the storm Obama has weathered along this long journey to April 22nd will blow him over, or continue sailing him to victory.