We're already seeing senior party officials looking for an exit strategy. Sure, Debbie Wasserman Shultz is doing everything she can to make sure Hillary gets the nomination (I'm not sure if she is acting out of pure stubbornness or is genuinely one of the few people left who believes that Hillary is an unbeatable candidate). But look at the glimpses we are getting from behind the scenes. Countless senior Democrats have anonymously told the press that Shultz is hurting the party by not allowing more primary debates, that she is fixing the election, one has even publicly
called her a dictator. The DNC is on the verge of revolting against Shultz almost exclusively because of her stubborn and obvious favoritism and adherence to Clinton. That should indicate, above all else, how much faith the Democratic Party has in Hillary Clinton at this point.
Beyond that, the rumblings of candidates like Gore and Kerry entering the race show how nervous some senior Democrats are. Gore, Kerry, probably Biden, these guys have no interest in entering the race. So why are there these persistent rumors? Because senior Democrats are trying to recruit them. Party elders are realizing just how vulnerable Clinton is in a general election. She isn't the sure thing, a myth that her handlers have spent 6 years perpetuating. To the contrary, she is the Democratic John McCain.
The problem is, no one else has laid down the foundation to challenge her. Sanders is not viable at all in a general election. If he did some how steal the nomination, he would lose 44-46 states. O'Malley and Webb are nonfactors because the media blacklisted them and as a result, few donors will touch them, making it impossible to seriously challenge Clinton. Then you have all of the other potential Democrats, great candidates like Kirsten Gillibrand, Sherrod Brown, Brian Schweitzer, Cory Booker, etc sitting out. They are doing so because they realized that the media and senior party officials anointing Clinton, as early as 2013, made it damn near impossible to successfully challenge her. As such, they never built the national profile, the campaign infrastructure, or fundraising base that they would need to enter the election and pull off an upset (O'Malley tried, look what happened). As a result, even if they wanted to challenge Clinton, they can't at this point, because it is too late to build the movement they would need.
So now senior party officials are realizing Hillary is very beatable in the general election (arguably an underdog) and they are desperately looking for someone who can challenge her. Since no one built the infrastructure to challenge her, they are basically throwing a Hail Mary by trying to tempt Al Gore, John Kerry, or Joe Biden, guys who already have the infrastructure, fundraising base, and national profile established, to enter the race. But none of those guys really seem to want it. Biden might do it out of obligation, but I don't think that the public takes him seriously enough and frankly, I don't think he really has the energy or really wants it at this point (and that will matter a lot if he hits the campaign trail).
But yeah, Democrats are DESPERATELY looking for an exit strategy. Problem is, none exists. So they are stuck with Clinton as the 2016 nominee. She will probably lose the general election (provided Republicans do not seriously nominate Donald Trump). And the Democratic Party has no one to blame but themselves. With the candidates that the Republicans have and Obama's reputation rebounding, this should've been an easy year for Democrats. But their stubborn adherence to the myth of Hillary Clinton will be their undoing.
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