“It’s her turn,” is what’s often said about Clinton, but Democratic primary voters don’t care whose turn it is. They have repeatedly swooned for thrilling newcomers instead.

They ditched Edmund Muskie, who’d run as vice president in 1968, for George McGovern in 1972. They ignored a slew of familiar names in 1976 to nominate Jimmy Carter, took Bill Clinton in 1992 over 1976 runner-up Jerry Brown, and of course plucked Barack Obama out of nowhere to make him the candidate in 2008. We may hardly have even heard, at this point, of the person who will best Clinton in 2016.

Or perhaps we have. The exception to the rule for Democrats is former sitting vice presidents, like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale and Al Gore — all of whom were nominated. And now another, Vice President Joe Biden, seems to want the job too.

What’s more, the Benghazi scandal has clearly damaged the credibility of Clinton’s claim to competence. While her name is mentioned daily in connection with the fiasco, Biden has cleverly laid low. After associating himself with seemingly every other aspect of the Obama presidency, Biden seems to have somehow immunized himself from the scandals.