Clinton needs Dem opponents

Los Angeles Times: As the campaign to succeed President Barack Obama shifts into high gear, Republican voters seem assured of a contested race for their party’s nomination with generational, geographical, occupational and ideological contrasts.

There will be at least nine debates before the party’s convention next summer in Cleveland, offering ample opportunity for a clash on the issues and greater clarity about what the candidates believe.

In contrast, so far the Democratic race consists of exactly one candidate with a truly national profile: former senator, secretary of state and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ended what passed for suspense in Washington on Sunday when she officially announced her candidacy.

A couple of Democrats — former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley — have indicated they might seek the nomination. But missing so far are two much better-known potential candidates: Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Vice President Joe Biden.

In lamenting the lack of competition in the Democratic field, we aren’t suggesting that Clinton is an inferior or unqualified candidate. Far from it. Although she came to public attention as the wife of President Bill Clinton, her subsequent service as a senator and secretary of state mark her as an accomplished and entirely credible candidate. But her party and the electorate at large would be better off if she had to defend and define her candidacy in the crucible of a truly competitive race.