Make no mistake -- I will vote for Hillary if she is our nominee

[Dems to Win]

6. Dem leadership seems very committed to having no vigorous challengers to Hillary

The Democratic Establishment made the deal with Hillary in 2008 that if she stood aside for Obama, the entire leadership of the Democratic Party would get behind her in 2016. Thom Hartmann has talked about this recently.

Harry Reid encouraged Obama to run in 2007. He's not done that with anyone this time around, and he won't.

No well known potential candidates will step forward because they know they will get no support from Dem leaders or big fundraisers. It's Hillary's turn.

O'Malley is on record supporting Hillary in 2010. If he runs, it wont be a serious effort, but it will serve as a place for the Anyone But Hillary voters to mark their primary ballot, so they can then be convinced to follow along with the party in the GE. If Hillary is truly unopposed, those ABH Democrats might be so angry they would be tempted to stay home in the fall. Better to give them a name to vote for at primary time. O'Malley might then be rewarded with Commerce Secretary or whatever cabinet post he wants.

Bernie might run because he wasn't party to the 2008 deal and his candidacy won't depend on conventional fundraising with the party bigwigs. His campaign would have to be entirely fueled by outside the beltway money and volunteers.

My personal preferred candidate is Congresswoman Barbara Lee, but I have no expectation that she will run. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drained this country of blood and treasure and there is no end in sight. We should turn to the one brave woman, the lone prophetic voice in our Congress who stood against these travesties and whose warnings have sadly come true. I'm Ready for Barbara Lee -- the only member of Congress wise enough to vote NO on the AUMFs of 2001 and 2002. She also voted NO on the Patriot Act. Really, if we as a country had the slightest bit of common sense, we would be pounding on her door, begging her to lead us, since she was the courageous voice who has been proven oh-so-correct.

IF we could generate 10 million postcards to Liz Warren, she might feel obligated to answer the call. MoveOn and Democrats for America are trying to draft her, so I've joined that effort, hence my sig block.