Women have voted in greater proportions than men for almost three decades. But the hard-fought candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket have put new cultural and ideological elements more fully into play.

Senator Obama knew what he was getting when he picked Senator Biden: A veteran of six terms in the Senate, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, an Irish Catholic with working-class roots, a guy who had twice been tested in the arena of presidential politics. And a human verbal wrecking crew.

Democrats are calling each other up to discuss how doomed they are, vowing to move to Canada as soon as the election is over and the inevitable worst has occurred. Really, we evacuated several hurricane-prone states with more cheer and optimism. Cheer up, Obama-ites. You’re overreacting.

Senator Obama’s advisors said that combative edge was essential to blunt any progress Senator McCain was making as he sought to encroach on Mr. Obama’s trademark message of change. But Mr. Obama’s remarks are curiously reminiscent — right down to that mocking tone — to words he spoke nearly a year ago when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton suddenly tried to swipe the mantle of change and Mr. Obama demonstrated a fight that many had doubted he could muster.

The absence of heavy fire directed at Gov. Palin had been expected, given a reluctance by Senator Clinton to turn her campaigning into a battle between two women. Yet advisers to Senator Obama said Mrs. Clinton was nonetheless their best surrogate to counter the Republican ticket’s new drive to win over her former supporters.

With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Senator Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Senator Obama’s aides said they were counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to rebut Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain.

Progress in America is never cheap, and even today history exacts a price for Obama’s victory — the dreams of electing the first female president, the dreams of so many who rushed towards Hillary Clinton on rope lines across America and refused to give up her hand and their hopes. Today these dreams are giving way to another kind of progress.

For weeks, Senator McCain had wanted to name independent Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate. But the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that the Republican ticket would be filled out with a supporter of abortion rights became too intense to be ignored.

Governor Palin left no doubt of her mission, as she eagerly praised the “determination and grace” of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who failed to make the Democratic ticket. “But it turns out that the women in America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” she vowed.

All data points to an enormous Obama win. If the Democratic candidate doesn’t win in the current circumstances, it would be a miracle. So what’s making a miracle possible, especially given, as I believe, that Obama is a brilliant politician? It seems the American people still harbour doubts about him.