Will Hillary Clinton face any challengers in 2016?
Hillary Clinton isn’t expected to announce her intentions about a presidential bid until after the midterm elections, but it’s already a real possibility she won’t face any real opposition if she decides to run.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told reporters yesterday he wasn’t going to run. He joins Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who said late last year she wouldn’t be a candidate either.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) clearly wants to run, but has said he won’t if Clinton is a candidate. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is also thought to have ambitions for higher office but almost no one thinks he would challenge Clinton.
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Vice President Joe Biden clearly wants another chance and has been keeping up his political travel over the last year. But nearly every early poll shows him losing to Clinton by a wide margin.
Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) clearly enjoys talking about running for president, but he did the same about running for U.S. Senate last year and ultimately decided against it.
Of course, there are always candidates who run simply for the attention and publicity. Dennis Kucinich or Al Sharpton or Mike Gravel may announce their candidacies in a hope to get on stage in a nationally-televised debate. But if Clinton is the only serious candidate running, will there even be any televised debates?
As Walter Shapiro tweeted, not since Richard Nixon in 1960 has any presidential candidate been handed a first time nomination without serious opposition.
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First Read cautions that American politics "is full of surprises. But right now, the smart money is on Hillary facing little to no opposition if she runs in 2016."
Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political websites. He also runs Wonk Wire and the Political Dictionary. Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and COO of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. senator and governor. Goddard is also co-author of You Won — Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including The Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Christian Science Monitor. Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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