Her strategic problem is that, absent a strong Democratic challenger to duke it out with, questions about various Hillary controversies, her age and the “Bill factor” will hang there to be resolved in the general election against a Republican candidate who has been on the road addressing his or her own image weaknesses.

Meanwhile, the press, which would ordinarily be covering a full set of Democratic candidates, has and will continue to turn its undivided attention to Hillary. And that has a downside. Note, for example, recent criticisms over Clinton not taking press questions for 21 days, getting speaking fees from lobbying groups, the income she and Bill have earned in recent years, and so on. While media attention is a positive for a candidate, being its almost sole focus on the Democratic side has not been easy.

And this could well serve to demoralize Democratic voters. There are already signs of that in the national polls. The Pew Research Center found Democrats far less engaged in the presidential race than they were eight years ago, while Republicans are not.  A March survey found just 58 percent of Democrats saying they had given a lot or some thought to the presidential candidates, compared to 71 percent back in 2007. There was no significant falloff in Republican campaign interest.