Week Eight:  2016—An Open Election with a Re-Elect Feel

As we head into the 2016 presidential election cycle, Democrats are faced with a unique challenge—a leading candidate for an open seat who brings to the table many of the challenges associated with a re-election campaign.  Hillary Clinton’s record is long, and her public persona is in many ways on par with a sitting president, with voters having shaped opinions about her and her positions over the course of two-plus decades in the public eye.  Week eight will examine how the current campaigns are negotiating an election environment in which one candidate is such a high profile public figure, and how they are dealing with defending and leveraging her long public record.