The Democratic presidential field has moved from being an "Inevitable Coronation"© to something resembling a competition. Markos is correct that Clinton is easily the odds-on favorite to win the nomination (and has a good chance to win the general election against whoever crawls out from under the GOP Clown RV-Trailer-Lunch Wagon-Weinermobile).
But Clinton does not have the field to herself.
Marylander Martin O'Malley has been visiting Iowa and/or New Hampshire every other weekend for the last year before declaring himself IN.
Rhode Islander Lincoln "Horton Hears a Who?" Chaffee has landed upon the third political stance of his adult life (see Republican; see Independent; see Democrat) and is in full cry from Quonochontaug to Woonsocket (gotta love those Anglo-Saxon, REAL 'MURKIN place names!) promoting his candidacy.
The Clinton camp has been shockingly lackadaisical in taking up these challengers to her campaign. She and her advisers have been so enamored of fundraising, staff recruiting, and media management that these 2 men have caught her completely flatfooted. The Clinton machine has been stunned into silence by these two cool sharks standin' side by side....the political equivalents of a fuel-injected Stingray and a 4-13, revvin' out their engines and they sound real mean.
And now, to compound Team C's worries, comes the little deuce coupe from Burlington, by way of the US Senate, Bernie Sanders. In a month of campaigning Sanders has been on a swing around the usual circuit (Iowa, NH, SC, with side trips to MN, DC and more coming this weekend to NV and CO.) Hillary has to be impressed that, despite limited funds, wind-streaked hair, and a chassis built before she was born, Bernie's got a competition clutch with a four on the floor and he purrs like a kitten till his lake pipes roar. She could be worried with his policy-heavy, economical flat-head mill that he'll walk her Thunderbird like it's standin' still.
Now Hillary has several advantages: name recognition, experience at running a national campaign, a boatload of money, the "first woman" factor, and broad appeal both within and outside the Democratic Party.
More specifically, Hillary stands in the center to center-left of the Democratic spectrum. O'Malley and especially Sanders are visibly to her Left, while the Rhode Island Red Chaffee is rather to her Right. If we crudely divide the spectrum of Democratic primary voters and caucus attenders (you know? The ones that will choose the delegates who do the actual nominating?) into thirds, Left-Center-Right ( or Progressive- Standard Dem- Conservadem/Dino) Hillary bestrides the Center and picks up the Democratic Party right by default. This gives her an enormous advantage toward the nomination. Her genuine fans are in the middle and the more cautious/"sold-out"/GOP-lite want a winner and can put up with her.
If O'Malley starts getting ANY sort of traction, he and Sanders will end up basically battling to divvy up the 25%-35% of the Party who are called/comfortable with labels like liberal/left/progressive. Even if O'Malley blows a tire on his '41 Woodie, Sanders is still pretty capped by the same 25%-35% ceiling within the party. In this scenario, despite all the squealing excitement and T-shirts proclaiming "Feel the Bern" sold in Keokuk, IA or Berlin, NH, Clinton WALKS to the nomination. Game. Set. Match.
This is where the "Lost in Radio Silence" Jim Webb (D-VA) comes in. After forming an "exploratory committee" for a Presidential run this winter, Team Webb has been playing way too many choruses of "In My Room". He has a populist take on a fair number of issues, can match Clinton on foreign policy, and I think could make a more than credible run through the primaries, starting in South Carolina and giving the Clinton Team real headaches in the rest of the South and the Border states. But will he get in? Time is getting short for him. Still.....
Webb would give the conservative Democrats "one of their own" to cheer for and support, so that now Hillary is no longer their "default" choice.
The contest would now devolve into a 3-way affair, Left-Center-Right, each with their own champion: Sanders-Clinton-Webb. At that point, anything could happen: strange alliances, hints about running mates, a genuine debate over the course and direction of both the Party and the nation, upsets in caucuses and primaries, horse-trading of delegates, the whole schmear (except no brokered convention.)
So oddly enough, beyond all the Sander's Swirl around these boards, the other end of the spectrum could be a key factor in how far Bernie can go. So far, so good for Sanders but we'll see how he does gettin' pushed out of shape when its hard to steer, if he's still gettin' rubber in all four gears......
Shalom.