Obviously, the intrinsic rewards of learning aren't working in New York's schools, at least not for a lot of children. It may be that the current state of achievement is low enough that desperate measures are called for, and it's worth trying anything. And we don't know whether in this case, motives will complement or compete.

But it is plausible that when students get paid to go to class and show up for tests, they will be even less interested in the work than they would be if no incentives were present. If that happens, the incentive system will make the learning problem worse in the long run, even if it improves achievement in the short run -- unless we're prepared to follow these children through life, giving them a pat on the head, or an M&M or a check every time they learn something new.

In Ohio, Clinton proved that going negative works. She spent the last week running a "kitchen sink" strategy, so named because she tossed everything but the kitchen sink at Obama. She attacked him for vague ties to the indicted financier Tony Rezko, for intimations that he might not be as anti-NAFTA as he suggested, for being incapable of answering the phone in the White House during the early morning hours, and, slightly humorously, for sending out unfair attack mailers. And it worked. She controlled the news cycles, one after the other, and his momentum was easily blunted.

Clinton's problem now is that she doesn't need to beat Obama, she has to convince the superdelegates to beat Obama for her.

Q: One study you wrote about even suggested that having your kid stare at a wall -- if you could get the child to do that -- would actually be better for him than watching TV. Why is that?

A: In this study, they had kids doing various sedentary things, and the kids who watched TV burned fewer calories than they did doing any other sedentary activity. Maybe it has a sedating effect on your metabolism.

There are multiple ways in which TV may contribute to obesity. There's the fact that you're not burning calories. There's the fact that children and adults tend to eat unconsciously while they're watching TV, if they have food or drink in front of them. And there's the fact that there's a lot of advertising on TV so you're constantly getting cues to go get a snack or go get a soda.

And I even read one study that said when people eat lying down they tend to feel less full, and they tend to go on eating longer. A lot of kids snack lying down while they're watching TV.

When it comes to a common resource like a gym, the ban on students and faculty based on gender is a disturbing policy choice. Religious groups should be accommodated in allowing them to build their own exclusive spaces using organizational funds. Thus, if they wanted to raise money to create a small workout room of their own, the university could and should support the effort. However, curtailing equal access policies to common areas is a major rollback after years of fighting for color-blind, gender-blind universities.

For Hillary, this is just the beginning. It doesn’t get any easier as we plow toward Pennsylvania, no matter how many times narratives flip for her by tomorrow morning.

But perhaps we’re post-pledged at this point in the campaign. There’s already word that Clinton’s mini-momentum spike may stem a flood of superdelegates to Obama. Clinton may not need to catch Obama in pledged delegates anymore. Now she needs to focus on convincing superdelegates that they want to back the candidate who wins big, blue states, not small, red ones. That’s still a tough sell when she'll fall short on pledged delegates.

Clinton is off to a roaring start to the new month, but in the end, she’s still likely to go out like a lamb.