THE ATLANTIC — The mystery of the 2016 Democratic presidential race isn’t why Hillary Clinton seems likely to run. She’s ambitious, qualified, too old to wait another four years and well positioned to win. Why wouldn’t she run?
The mystery is why she has no real competition. So far, none of the Democrats who could seriously challenge Clinton—Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Cuomo, Deval Patrick—have shown any interest. The candidates who have—Brian Schweitzer, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders—are too weak to arouse much media attention or donor support.
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On Tuesday, The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake ran through the reasonsvarious potential challengers seemed disinclined to run: Warren has praised Clinton too much; Joe Biden’s approval ratings are low; O’Malley would have trouble raising money. But these individual factors don’t entirely explain why no one has emerged.
After all, presidential primaries have seen strong frontrunners before—think of Walter Mondale in 1984, George H.W. Bush in 1992, or Al Gore in 2000—but they’ve all faced real challengers. An essentially uncontested race by a non-incumbent for a party’s presidential nomination would be unprecedented in recent American history.
Read more at the Atlantic.