Hillary Clinton is Mrs. October

[DemocratSinceBirth]

October has been a clarifying month. The first Democratic debate exhibited Hillary Clinton's competence and reassured the Democratic Party elite that she remains a formidable candidate. In addition, it helped chase two also-rans — Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee — from the primary and appears to have breached the porous borders of Sen. Bernie Sanders' support.

Last week, Vice President Joe Biden's retreat from the field ratified Clinton's commanding position, freeing up funds and quashing a distraction in the news media. Then the much- anticipated House Benghazi hearing unfolded.

After two Republicans recently acknowledged the Benghazi committee's partisan agenda — roughing up Clinton — the Republicans on the panel had extra incentive to appear decorous and sober. A couple managed. Others played the role of barking seals at a dystopic Sea World, spinning bright conspiracies on their noses in hopes of being tossed a kipper from the fringe. If the goal was to soften the hard feelings some Democrats hold against Clinton, Republican pride must be swelling at the committee's resourcefulness.

With a month of drama behind us, Clinton's status is back to where it was many months ago: She is on track to win her party's nomination without enormous difficulty. Republicans still hope to derail her candidacy, with high hopes that scandalous emails will be the new deus ex machina. Barring that, they hope that those Democrats and Independents who've never warmed to Team Hillary will remain resistant right through November 2016.

Perhaps the emails, which are trickling out in regular intervals, will fatally damage Clinton some way, somehow. But it seems unlikely. In which case Clinton will simply be a competent Democrat running for president in the mainstream of her party, supported by an incumbent president who is very popular with Democrats and sustaining credible overall favorable ratings in an angry, polarized environment. In other words, Clinton will be running with all the structural advantages that would accrue to any competent mainstream Democrat in 2016.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-hillary-clinton-benghazi-biden-bernie-sanders-20151026-story.html

[frylock]

1. Knock-knock. Who's there? Owen. Owen who?

0-1.

[MrMickeysMom]

2. Correct sport...

[workinclasszero]

3. I think the democratic party will unite behind Hillary fairly soon

so we can concentrate all our energies on the real enemies of America, the republican party and its fascist presidential nominee.