Hillary Clinton is worried about only 3 Republicans

(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 23 September 2015

Only three Republican presidential candidates keep Clinton campaign staffers up at night, Politico reports — and no, they aren't Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina.

Fiorina’s post-debate polling pop [hasn't] vaulted her into the category of serious contenders in the Clinton camp’s eyes — a tier that, with Scott Walker out of the race, is now down to Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. [Politico]

Those three might sound like some very unthreatening threats, since Bush and Rubio sit below Trump and Ben Carson in the latest polls, and Kasich can't even break 3 percent. But talk to most strategists, and the current GOP frontrunners are nothing but "rabble" who won't be able to mount a serious challenge in the general election. Jeb Bush, on the other hand, has the track record and the institutional support to — at least, theoretically — run a formidable campaign against Clinton. And Rubio has the charisma and personal story to give her headaches. But Kasich?

Democratic strategist Douglas Schoen thinks Kasich, in fact, might be the most "electable" candidate in the general election, one capable of easily winning the fierce battleground state of Ohio, where he's serving his second term as governor, reports The New York Times. An even more alarming fact for the Clinton campaign, however, is that in a New Hampshire poll of a hypothetical election, Kasich actually beats her by two points, a feat no other candidate, including Trump, has proven able to achieve.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.