THE COUNTDOWN – AT 12:08 P.M. ET:  Can you stand the tension, just waiting for Hillary to make her announcement tomorrow?  It will be so wonderful having a fresh face that's only been around for 25 years. 

Oh wait.  I didn't notice.  There's no coronation on the national schedule.  From The Politico: 

House Republicans investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi and Hillary Clinton’s email practices as secretary of state said in interviews that her official entry into the presidential race won’t have any bearing on their probes.

But the political stakes of the Clinton congressional investigations are about to skyrocket. Both parties will be watching the committee’s work intently for ammo to use against Clinton or to call foul on the GOP for attempting to smear a presidential contender.

“Secretary Clinton’s decision to seek the presidency of the United States does not and will not impact the work of the committee,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. “The Committee needs to and expects to talk with Secretary Clinton twice, as ensuring the committee has all relevant material is a condition precedent to asking specifically about Libya and Benghazi.”

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) said the committee is prepared to take criticism from Clinton allies once her campaign launches but won’t be deterred from fully probing the attacks just because she is running for president.

“I don’t think anybody is going to stop her and her camp from saying anything we do is … political. She’ll use this in her campaign,” Westmorelnd said. “It’s not political. We would have had her in a long time ago if we had her emails. This is something she has brought on herself and the State Department brought on.”

But Democrats would like nothing more than an ongoing spectacle of congressional Republicans looking like they’re tripping over themselves to go after Clinton. Avoiding such an atmosphere amid the heightened attention will be a major political challenge for Gowdy, a former U.S. attorney tapped to head the Benghazi panel and the initial investigation into Clinton’s email use.

COMMENT:  I have confidence that Gowdy can pull it off.  The press will, of course, side with Hillary, portraying her as a helpless victim and grandmother.  And, of course, following the regimen of 2008, every attack on Hillary will be called "sexist."  That's the way the 1960s game is played, and Hillary is still stuck in the 1960s.

The important thing for Republicans is to stand firm, not to make the mistake John McCain made in 2008, when he was far too deferential to Barack Obama, apparently fearing that he'd be called a "racist" if he wasn't.

Hillary may also get some real competition from within the Democratic Party, which would help the Republicans make their case.

I think we might well have the most interesting presidential race since the Reagan election of 1980.

April 11, 2015