If Hillary falters, Dems search for answers from geriatric second team

As political analysts increasingly question Hillary Clinton's political chops, could it be that the Democrats find themselves painted into a Blue State corner in which the former secretary of state is their lone prospect for winning the presidency in 2016?

After all, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden seem unlikely to run. That may leave Sen. Bernie Sanders, the socialist/independent within the Democratic tent, to provide the only high-profile challenge to the former first lady's second run for the White House.

Northern Michigan Republican activist and political consultant Dennis Lennox makes the case that the Democrats face a weak, geriatric second-team if Hillary falters -- at a time when the Republicans offer several relatively young presidential candidates.
In his column this week for The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, Lennox argues that the Democratic Party has locked itself into an all-but-certain coronation of Clinton as their party’s presidential nominee even as she continues to try to shake off the controversy over the secretive, private email account she maintained while serving as the nation's top diplomat.
Here's a taste of Lennox's column:

"The opportunity for Democrats to make history (electing the first woman president) is without a doubt the most appealing quality of a Clinton candidacy. This explains why so many Democrats would just as easily back Elizabeth Warren, if the unabashed left-wing senator from Massachusetts were to run for president.
"... The reality is today’s Democratic Party lacks a farm team for national office. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the 75-year-old whose recent injuries make him look like a nursing home resident council president, leads the Democratic minority in the Senate. Of his colleagues in the Senate Democratic caucus leadership, not a single one falls outside the age range for membership in the AARP.

"Things aren’t much better for Democrats over in the House of Representatives, where California’s Nancy Pelosi, who is a year younger than Reid, maintains her leadership post despite failing to retake the speaker’s gavel in the last two congressional elections. Her right-hand man (or in Pelosi’s case, left-hand man) is 75.

"The fact that 2000 Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore’s name has emerged as a possible candidate only illustrates how bad Democrats have it."