Snipped from: Hillary and the Politics of Disappointment
By Paul Rogat Loeb

When Democrats worry about Hillary Clinton's electability, they focus on
her re-energizing a depressed Republican base while demoralizing core
Democratic activists, particularly those outraged about the war, and
thus maybe lose the election. But there's a further danger if Hillary's
nominated—that she will win but then split the Democratic Party.

We forget that this happened with her husband Bill, because compared to
Bush, he's looking awfully good. Much of Hillary's support may be
nostalgia for when America's president seemed to engage reality instead
of disdaining it.  But remember that over the course of Clinton's
presidency, the Democrats lost 6 Senate seats, 46 Congressional seats,
and 9 governorships. This political bleeding began when Monica Lewinsky
was still an Oregon college senior.

Given Hillary's protracted support of the Iraq war, her embrace of
neoconservative rhetoric on Iran, and her coziness with powerful
corporate interests, she could create a similar backlash once in office,
dividing and depressing the Democratic base and reversing the party's
newfound momentum.

Think about 1994. Pundits credited major Republican victories to angry
white men, Hillary's failed healthcare plan, and Newt Gingrich's
"Contract with America." But the defeat was equally rooted in a massive
withdrawal of volunteer support among Democratic activists who felt
politically betrayed. Nothing fostered this sense more than Bill
Clinton's going to the mat to push the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).

Angered by a sense that he was subordinating all other priorities to
corporate profits, and by his cavalier attitude toward the hollowing out
of America's industrial base, labor, environmental and social-justice
activists nationwide withdrew their energy from Democratic campaigns.
This helped swing the election, much as the continued extension of these
policies (particularly around dropping trade barriers with China) led
just enough Democratic leaning voters in 2000 to help elect George Bush
by staying home or voting for Ralph Nader.