Charlie Cook: Why Hillary Doesn't Have to Worry About New Candidates Entering The Race

Establishment guru Charlie Cook reminds us the odds favor Hillary for the Democrat party nomination:

Few people un­der­stand the Demo­crat­ic del­eg­ate se­lec­tion pro­cess bet­ter than Elaine Kamar­ck, a seni­or fel­low at the Brook­ings In­sti­tu­tion. “A can­did­ate who is not on a primary bal­lot can’t win del­eg­ates from that state—pure and simple,” she and Ash­ley Gab­ri­ele wrote re­cently for Brook­ings. “And so miss­ing a fil­ing dead­line is akin to for­feit­ing del­eg­ates to the con­ven­tion.” By the end of Novem­ber, they point out, a pro­spect­ive can­did­ate will have for­feited about 500 votes; by year’s end, more than 1,000. By Janu­ary 15, dead­lines will have passed for more than half of the del­eg­ates to next year’s Demo­crat­ic con­ven­tion—the num­ber that’s needed to win.

The clock is ticking for Democrats who want something other than pantsuits.