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The news out of Politico this morning is that Hillary Clinton is likely to push her formal presidential announcement all the way back to July, a three-month delay from the original plan and one born of a desire to make sure the candidate and the campaign are fully ready to go when things are made official.

Here's Mike Allen:

The delay from the original April target will give her more time to develop her message, policy and organization, without the chaos and spotlight of a public campaign.

A Democrat familiar with Clintons thinking said: She doesnt feel under any pressure, and they see no primary challenge on the horizon. If you have the luxury of time, you take it.

The thinking goes like this: Clinton does best -- in the eyes of the public -- when she is seen as above or removed from politics. Her numbers, which were damaged by the 2008 presidential race, soared during and after her time as secretary of state. The less political she looks -- and you always look less political when you aren't running for something -- the more people like her.

Here's Gallup's long-term trend on Clinton's favorability ratings. The peaks (and valleys) tend to correspond with her times out -- and in -- campaign mode.

That reality is, of course, not new. So, what changed that has Clintonworld at least contemplating a slowdown in her announcement timetable?

Elizabeth Warren or, more accurately the lack of Elizabeth Warren. The senator from Massachusetts and the buzz around her as a possible Democratic candidate has gone dormant -- or gotten quieter -- over the past month. There isn't the daily drumbeat of stories about the left's unrest with Clinton (and pining for Warren) that was seen a few months back. And, more important, Warren and her people continue to insist -- publicly and privately -- that she has no interest in running, and she has not built a team to suggest that she does.

Without Warren, the primary is of no real threat to Clinton, as people such as Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb and even Martin O'Malley can't raise the money or generate the sort of generic excitement needed to topple her.

It makes all the sense in the world. But, waiting so long does carry some disadvantages.

See the rest here:
The Fix: Hillary Clintons ever-changing presidential timeline is changing. Again.