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At the end of this race, how divided are the Democrats? By some measures, deeply divided. Barack Obama won the nomination, but Hillary Rodham Clinton won six of the final nine primaries.

Some of the party's divisions are predictable. In a contest between a woman and an African-American man, it's hardly surprising that

women and blacks tended to support different candidates. In Pennsylvania, for instance, 59 percent of women voted for Clinton, according to the network exit poll. African-Americans went 90 percent for Obama.

That division burst into the open at the meeting of the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee last weekend, when pro-Clinton protesters erupted in rage. "Why aren't the men in the party defending the women?" one Clinton supporter complained. "Why aren't they defending women's interests instead of hiding behind racial cloaks?"

In the last two primaries, about half of Clinton supporters said they would not be satisfied if Obama won the nomination. Why so much animosity? There is no significant ideological divide. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, liberals split about evenly between Clinton and Obama. There were issue differences, but they were not very deep or consistent. Most of the South Dakota Democrats who cited the economy as their top concern voted for Clinton, but about 40 percent of them voted for Obama. Most of the Montana Democrats whose top concern was the economy backed Obama, but about 40 percent of them backed Clinton.

The candidates differed more in style and temperament than on issues or ideology. Clinton ran as a fighter. "One thing you know about me is that I am no shrinking violet," she told cheering supporters in Kentucky last month. "If I tell you I will fight for you, that is exactly what I intend to do."

Obama promised to end all the fighting. He argued that voters were not "looking for politicians to be calling each other names and acting with a lot of bluster," adding, "That's been the politics we've had for the last 20 years." The last 20 years, of course, would include the Clinton administration.

Obama ran as a dreamer. "When we get into negative campaigns, we lose focus on what it's supposed to be about," he said in South Dakota. "It's about you. It's about your hopes and your dreams."

Obama inspired his supporters by telling them, "It goes to show you how one voice can change a room. If it can change a room, it can change a city. If it can change a city, it can change a nation. If it can change a nation, it can change the world. One voice can change the world! Let's go change the world!"

Clinton scoffed at Obama's dreams. She told voters in Rhode Island, "Now, I can stand here and say, 'Let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing. And everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect.' " She added, "Maybe I have just lived a little too long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be."

Why can't the Democrats' fighters and dreamers join forces, maybe on the same "dream ticket"? That's what a lot of Democrats are asking--with the encouragement of Clinton, who has let it be known that she would accept an invitation to join Obama's ticket. As a result, she has put Obama on the spot. If he doesn't ask her to be his running mate, some Democrats will accuse him of perpetuating his party's divisions.

One division that showed up in the primaries is likely to become even bigger in the general election: age. In South Dakota, Democrats under 30 voted 67 percent for Obama. Democrats 65 and older voted 66 percent for Clinton.

There is a 25-year age difference between Obama and presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. That's the biggest difference in history between the two major parties' presidential nominees.

Obama's message of "change" is likely to intensify that divide. "Change" resonates positively with young voters, who have been turning out for Obama in record numbers. Many older voters find "change" vaguely threatening, and they may reject Obama--just as they did in the primaries.