Not so on the Democratic side.
That worry is now gone, supplanted by others.
Challengers have arrived. Clinton is getting far stronger competition than expected from Vermont Sen.
Additionally, the latest inside-the-Beltway buzz is that Vice President
A mistake? Really? Clinton still leads all potential Republican candidates in the polls. Nevertheless, her favorability ratings have been slipping fairly dramatically in recent months. The nagging controversy surrounding her handling of emails from her time as secretary of State has taken a toll. Clinton is not generating the kind of enthusiasm Sanders currently enjoys among Democratic stalwarts. One-on-one, she comes off as charming, but when delivering a speech she is no Bill Clinton. Too often, she sounds like an earnest high school principal, not a charismatic campaigner. Hillary’s campaign is set to spend $2 million on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire that will reintroduce her to voters. Is that smart politics or a sign of trouble? Why does the most famous woman in the world need a new introduction?
The Republicans have plenty of problems of their own, of course, particularly the changing demographics of the electorate that do not favor a party whose base is aging and mostly white. For that and other reasons, Hillary Clinton remains the most likely Democratic nominee and the most likely to win the White House. Yet, she does not seem as strong as she once did and, right now, a legion of pundits and at least three rivals for the nomination are watching for a scandal to trip her up or for her campaign to suffer an internal crisis, as happened in 2008, or for Clinton fatigue to set in among too many voters. Hillary is probable, but no longer inevitable.