Hillary Clinton had an amazing night — and not just because of her victories

Hillary Clinton had an amazing night — and not just because of her victories

Tuesday night was an amazing night for Hillary Clinton, and not just because her wins in Florida and Ohio made Bernie Sanders's path to the nomination nearly impossible.

Tuesday night was an amazing night for Hillary Clinton because Marco Rubio dropped out of the race and virtually ensured she will face either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz in the general election.

Hillary Clinton won Illinois's Democratic primary on Tuesday night, delivering a setback to Bernie Sanders's push to upend the race.

The win caps a great night for Clinton in which she also won Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida — bolstering her delegate total just when Sanders needed to start reducing it. (Missouri still wasn't called at press time.)

Clinton's win may shore up faith that her polling leads in other states are meaningful. (Real Clear Politics' average of the Illinois polls had Clinton up by 3 points.) And that should be reassuring for a Clinton campaign that would otherwise be looking at a much more unpredictable primary fight than anyone had expected.

'It is a tough game to win, and it's part of why this is the first time an American woman has ever gotten this close to winning a major party's nomination.