At some point — preferably soon — presidential contender Hillary Clinton should end her campaign and work for, not against, the interests of her party.

Six primary contests remain on the calendar: West Virginia on Tuesday, Oregon and Kentucky on May 20, Puerto Rico on June 1 and South Dakota and Montana two days later.

But the numbers already aren't adding up for the Clinton camp: She is unlikely to close the gap between herself and Barack Obama in popular votes and in the delegate count. If Clinton hangs on, there's sure to be a bitter and bruising battle for superdelegates and the party's nomination. But the end result isn't likely to change.

The party's rules committee could still decide to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates, and the combat could continue. But Clinton shouldn't press her party to make such a risky gamble on her behalf when there's so much at stake.

Indeed, key Democratic party leaders see the writing on the wall and are wisely urging the party come together behind Obama, and focus on the general election ahead. After Tuesday's polling, party officials warned that they would not cooperate with Clinton's strategy of restoring the results of the Michigan and Florida primaries and wrestling for superdelegates.

And with waning political support from her own party, Clinton has a slim-to-none shot at raising the money needed to continue her run. She has personally loaned her campaign more than $6 million since April, and about $11 million thus far, according to published reports.

It's been a long, rancorous campaign, and while Clinton deserves high praise for spotlighting concerns of core Democratic constituencies, the party needs time to unify around a standard-bearer.

Unity is essential for the party to draw clear contrasts between its platform and that of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. And with Democrats on either side of the primary-election divide saying they would consider withholding their support if the other candidate wins, the party has to keep crossover to a minimum.

Naturally, some of the entrenched Clinton supporters will come back to Obama. He and Clinton stand close together on major issues, but a good distance away from McCain.

Still, the healing process will take time, and the Democrats have already frittered away a lot of time and treasure on these combative primaries.

It's in the country's best interest to turn away from intramural sniping and toward a general election race that gives voters a choice between distinct approaches to solving America's problems and moving our nation forward on the right path.