HEY, SOMEONE'S FINALLY SAYING IT – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  The "it" is that Hillary Clinton could be forced out of the presidential race due to her legal problems.  I've noticed in the last four or five days that discussions about this have grown more serious, with news that the FBI investigation may wind down in May, only two months from now.  That's when the real drama begins:  what will the FBI recommend?  From The Hill: 

It’s the scenario that Republicans dream of and Democrats believe is all but impossible: Hillary Clinton being forced to drop out of the presidential race due to criminal charges over her email server.

Any bombshell findings in the FBI’s investigation of Clinton could plunge the Democratic race into chaos.

Bernie Sanders could stand to gain. As the only other candidate in the Democratic race, the party could quickly coalesce around him in an effort to halt the bedlam. But that’s far from a sure thing, with many in the party fearful he would be a weak general election candidate.

Democrats insist there’s virtually no chance that Clinton will be indicted over her server. The candidate has said repeatedly that no laws were broken, and that classified information was never sent over the server. Asked about an indictment at the last Democratic debate, Clinton responded: “That's not going to happen.”

In the event that Clinton stepped aside after winning the nomination at the convention, the Democratic National Committee could decide on the replacement on its own.

If an indictment came before the convention, the path would be more difficult.

Unlike the Republican Party, which binds most of its delegates to candidates regardless of delegates’ personal preferences, Democratic candidates have input on who represents them on the convention floor.

“There are no Clinton-bound delegates who would prefer voting for Sanders, for example,” delegate expert and University of Georgia professor Josh Putnam, told The Hill.

“Those folks are essentially hand-picked to be loyal. They are unlikely to stray.”

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's fascinating.  And I'm glad to see that attention to this possibility is finally being paid.  It's possible, of course, that the case can be "fixed" in the Justice Department, or even that the FBI director could be threatened with political retaliation if he recommends indictment.  He could certainly be subjected to a Clinton smear campaign.

But there are scores of federal agents at work on the Clinton case.  If their work is dumped because of political pressure, they'll start leaking to the press, and the cover-up can make matters even worse for Clinton. 

And then, of course, there's the role of the press.  Will the press do its job, or will there be the traditional cover-up of Democratic sins.  Hillary is not particularly popular with reporters, and may not get the support that Obama got.

We may yet see the biggest story of this political season.  How juicy.

March 19,  2016