The buzzards are starting to circle the Hillary Clinton campaign.  She may lose at least some primaries to a Socialist.  A Socialist.  She has no accomplishments to speak of, and has the FBI investigating her emails as Secretary of State. Her denials that classified information was kept on her server have proven false.  With all that said, those buzzards may have to wait for their meal, because her campaign is not dead and she is not in jail– yet.  The former is more and more likely going to happen.  The latter, the part about her going to jail, may not happen for months if it happens at all.

One thing we know about the Clinton’s from Whitewater, is that having mounds of evidence does not mean jail time, at least not for them.  As with the Whitewater scandal, someone with a close connection to Clinton will almost certainly be going to prison, but it may not be Hillary herself.  This is probably not what the members of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” want to hear, but is a distinct possibility.

For one thing, people are willing go take the fall the Clinton’s.  One or more of her staffers will wind up as a sacrificial lamb.  That lamb or lambs will claim it was all their idea in an effort to protect their boss.  Mrs. Clinton herself may well be charged with a felony but, as with General Petraeus, will be allowed to plea down to a misdemeanor. Unless a smoking gun is found, this is the most likely scenario.  Likely, because the server that the Hillary handed over to the FBI has been wiped clean.  It does not take a detective to guess the probable motive for doing so.  The data we’re told, was moved to another server. So far though, there is no word on the FBI obtaining that other server.   Does that mean that the Justice Department has about as much interest in finding and checking out that email server has they did Lois Lerner’s?

Unlike with the IRS scandal, where it was alleged that the IRS under Lerner’s direction singled out conservative groups for undue scrutiny, the presence of highly classified material on Hillary’s email server has a genuine national security aspect to it that leaves the Justice Department no choice but to investigate.   They will focus their investigation on what damage may have been done to national security, who has been in contact with the classified material, and if any emails were hacked by a foreign intelligence service. There are multiple felonies that had to have taken place, and names will be attached to those felonies.  Hillary Rodham Clinton probably won’t be one of those names, so long as there is someone, anyone else who can be blamed.  Once the FBI is content that they have determined the full extent of the damage, the Justice Department will pull the plug on the investigation.  If at that point Hillary has not yet been charged with a crime, she never will be.

It is a different story with regards to the political fallout that will, and already has occurred.  The damage to Hillary’s political career and her presidential campaign may already be irreversible. She is underwater on the issue of trustworthiness, and her negatives will continue to sink though the floor.  The negative campaign ads practically write themselves in her case.  Last time around, Republicans who were less than enthusiastic about Mitt Romney stayed home on election night. This time, it will be Democrats who will stay home, unless it’s to vote for someone else.

The only real question is how much more bad press is the DNC willing to take before they switch horses.  What will be that proverbial last straw?  Will it be an indictment or will it be the prospect of even more states falling to Bernie Sanders?  More than likely, Joe Biden will be made to dust off his old campaign buttons and give it a go the moment enough pledges of campaign support come though.  Before that, look for rumors that Democratic Party leaders and donors are quietly or even not so quietly, asking Hillary to step aside.  If and when that starts to happen we’ll know it’s truly the beginning of the end for Hillary’s candidacy.