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Its all but assumed that 2016 presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton soon will announce her candidacy. Shes swooping up wealthy donors, lining up eager-beaver staffers, and reportedly preparing to lease a campaign headquarters facility in Brooklyn.

But what if she doesnt? What if shes truly worn out with being a Clinton and all that costs the constant criticism and controversy? (Former Bill Clinton paramour Monica Lewinsky back in the news giving a TED talk on bullying couldnt have helped.) What if she really does want to devote most of her time to being a grandma?

The result would be a mass scramble for the most viable alternative someone who could compete with the likes of tea party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz, (R) of Texas, (expected to announce his candidacy Monday) or mainstream GOP favorite Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida now lining up big Republican donors.

Mrs. Clinton was in Iowa this past week, and so was Politicos Gabriel Debenedetti.

Theres a sense of certainty surrounding her prospects in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, yet its accompanied by a deep sense of unease thats rooted in Iowas complicated history with the Clintons, Debenedetti writes. Few expect shell get much of a challenge, but almost no one is under the illusion shell be campaigning in Iowa as a happy warrior either.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos wouldnt have brought smiles to the Clinton camp either not only because it shows her support softening but because it indicates that the controversy over her private email accounts is alive among Democrats as well as Republicans eager to weaken her wherever and whenever they can.

Support for Clinton's candidacy has dropped about 15 percentage points since mid-February among Democrats, with as few as 45 percent saying they would support her, Reuters reported. Even Democrats who said they were not personally swayed one way or another by the email flap said that Clinton could fare worse because of it, if and when she launches her presidential campaign.

Even among Democrats, according to this poll, 46 percent agreed there should be an independent review of all of Clinton's emails to ensure she turned over everything that is work-related, and 41 percent said they backed the Republican-controlled congressional committee's effort to require Clinton to testify about the emails.

Still, Clinton remains far ahead of any other potential Democratic candidate, and any dithering on her part makes it hard for anybody else to jump in.

My view of the electorate is, we react badly to inevitability, because we experience it as entitlement, and that is risky, it seems to me, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick told The New York Times recently.

Originally posted here:
What happens if Hillary Clinton doesnt run? Chaos for Democrats. (+video)