Democrats are on the cusp of a primary campaign unlike any in recent memory

The Democratic Party is on the cusp of a primary-election campaign unlike any in memory. It does not have an incumbent president running for re-election. It does not even have a sitting vice president with an easy path to the nomination. Yet the party may conduct one of the least competitive nominating contests in modern political history.

Hillary Clinton is in as strong a position as any nonincumbent trying to win a major-party nomination ever has been, as Nate Cohn has explained. Her poll numbers — and the decisions being made by rival candidates — all suggest she is far stronger than she was eight years ago. The legitimate questions about why she seems to have violated State Department email policy won’t change this fact…

The situation has both benefits and drawbacks for the Democrats. If it continues, it will allow Mrs. Clinton to save her money for a general election and to avoid having Democratic rivals criticize her in ways that voters remember. But it may also prevent her from working off her rough edges as a candidate early in the cycle — and will allow Republicans to train their attention and negative messages on a single candidate from the start. On a policy level, a Clinton cakewalk will mean the party doesn’t have some of the constructive debates about health care and tax policy that Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards did eight years ago.