ALL HILLARY ALL THE TIME – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  Well, it's Friday, and can Sunday be far behind?   Hillary's announcement of her candidacy is two days off.   To maintain your sanity, I recommend you stay away from your TV's.  It'll be Hillary and more Hillary.  The Queen will be addressing her subjects.

Bottom line, she'd better do a lot better than she's done.  Almost every story about Hillary recently has been negative.  She can't play the granny game forever.

The Los Angeles Times has some reporting on what her campaign will probably look like:

Clinton’s team will say only that the launch will be light on big rallies and speeches and heavy on the candidate interacting with small groups of voters in such cozy venues as homes and diners.

The first such event will attract the most attention. Nobody close to Clinton will say where it will take place.

Even without much — or any — viable opposition for the Democratic nomination, Clinton will leave nothing to chance. A flawed approach in the 2008 primary played big in her eventual defeat that year to then-Sen. Barack Obama. Clinton built her candidacy then almost exclusively around experience, putting off voters who sought a more personal connection, and possibly a more humble candidate. She avoided highlighting her potential to make history as the first female president, despite polls showing it was a big selling point.

While the announcement for the 2016 election is a chance for her to start fresh, it is also an opportunity for the media to resurrect all the mistakes she made in her last run. Every location where she has a meaningful connection also has drawbacks. Early primary states invite comparisons to 2008. Arkansas suggests she is mounting a bid for a third term of the last Clinton White House. Illinois, her native state, might suggest she is seeking a third term of the Obama one.

COMMENT:  Well, that's one point of view, I guess.  But I think the L.A. Times gets some things wrong.  Hillary was defeated by Barack for one primary reason:  on the political left, race always trumps gender.  The first woman president is kind of inevitable.  It will happen.  But the first black president was exciting, especially to the left wing of the Democratic Party, which has an inordinate voice in presidential primaries. 

Also, despite Hillary's past role as a kind of feminist role model, her policies in 2008 appeared "center left."  Obama's appeared "real left."  That is still a problem for Hillary.  Not quite left enough. 

So, we'll see what happens Sunday.   Hillary has been slipping in the polls, which is probably why her announcement is being made early.  Polling in the next few months will probably determine whether others get into the race seriously. 

April 10, 2015