Larry Sabato Says Hillary Clinton is No Slam Dunk in 2016

Larry Sabato of the Crystal Ball says in the Politico that Hillary Clinton is no sure thing in 2016.

How much will it be political precedent and how much will it be America’s strong distaste with liberalism, big government and eight years of a failed Obama presidency and his policies that will make 2016 not be a slam dunk for Hillary Clinton? Then again, how much will it be Hillary’s own doing with her disastrous handling of Benghazi, where four Americans, including Ambassador Stevens died or her own not doing in that what did she ever really do as a Senator or Secretary of State? But as Hillary Clinton says, what difference does it make!!!

Obamacare is a disaster, the economy stinks, job growth is terrible, food stamps are at record levels, federal debt is at all time highs and growing, the Middle East is a powder keg … why would America want 4 more years of the Obama administration?

How much will Benghazi and “What Difference Does It Make” will doom Hillary?

Inevitably, she will consider how much she wants, or is able, to keep going at a killer pace throughout her 70s and, more important, her chances of prevailing in November 2016.

Much of it is out of her hands. Low job approval numbers for President Obama, should they persist, will make it difficult for any Democrat to win, even with the party’s seeming Electoral College edge and growing demographic advantages among minorities and the young. Just ask John McCain how President George W. Bush’s unpopularity affected his 2008 White House bid. (Of course, you can’t rule out the very real chance that the Republicans will rescue the eventual Democratic nominee by putting forward an out-of-the-mainstream nominee.)

The Clintons are nothing if not shrewd, and they’ve lived through the entire era of postwar American politics. So Hillary Clinton would be the last to believe what I have heard with increasing frequency: that, in the end, no one of real heft, even Vice President Joe Biden, will challenge her for the Democratic nomination she nearly won in 2008, and she will steamroll over the minor contenders who do. Most frequently mentioned in the “minor” category are former Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland. (O’Malley also made a little-noticed appearance at the McAuliffe inauguration.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would be a major opponent should she run, but she insists she will not. When California Gov. Jerry Brown also bowed out, NBC News’s First Read called it “a reminder that Hillary Clinton will probably face little to no serious competition if she runs.”