Trail To The Chief: The Non-Existent Democratic Bench If Hillary Doesn't Run Edition

One possibility is that we're about to find out. Of course, another possibility is that it's really early in the campaign and this email scandalette will burn itself out eventually and we'll look back on another premature deployment of the "Dems in disarray" meme with detached amusement. But if this doesn't rattle Clinton, surely it has to rattle the Democratic Party a little bit. If the GOP's main problem is a candidate logjam between last year's losers, this year's saviors and also-rans of every order, the Democrats' yawning worry has to be the lack of timber to send to the mill. There's very little sign that the party has done any serious work recruiting future officeholders and grooming them for the national spotlight. And the lack of fresh faces means that fresh ideas -- or fresher takes on old ideas -- are hard to come by.

Once you get past Clinton, is there a "Democratic bench"? Yes. But the problem is, it's probably an actual bench.

Candidate Photos: Getty, Associated Press