HER favorable ratings have fallen. The investigation into her private email server is tightening. Bernie Sanders is drawing huge crowds. Joe Biden is considering one last White House bid. Al Gore has advisers who have friends who’ve told reporters that they might have heard about conversations spitballing about a possible Gore run.
And as for the pundits — like, yes, yours truly — who once said that Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, well, did we expect that Sanders would top a New Hampshire poll? (Truthfully, I did not.) Did we even see the email scandal coming? (Well, I expected something Clintonesque, but the specifics have surprised.) For that matter, did we foresee Donald Trump’s swift ascent on the G.O.P. side of things? (No, I didn’t think he would run at all.)
So with that kind of track record from the soothsaying profession, isn’t it possible that our entire “Hillary Clinton is the inevitable Democratic nominee” thesis is about to become a casualty of State Department scandal, Clinton fatigue, her weaknesses as a campaigner, the populist temper of the times?
Many things are possible. But to this soothsayer, it feels like a good time to double down on that thesis instead, and make my prediction as firm and wiggle-free as possible: Hillary’s going to win the nomination, and it isn’t going to be particularly close.
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