It looks as if Hillary Clinton is going to wait until summer to formally announce her inevitable presidential campaign. Her team originally looked at April as a jumping-off point, but is now waiting until July. Team Hillary will use this time to work on assembling staff (and keeping them from resigning) and developing her platform. Because she hasn’t had enough time to finish that homework.

Unlike the Republican presidential field, which is well populated and already out on the trail, Clinton is facing little opposition among Democrats. She can afford to take her time in making her announcement. The only serious name that keeps coming up as a challenger is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). (We know, we left Joe Biden off the “serious name” list.) Despite a growing attempt to draft Warren, she has remained relatively silent on the matter.

The danger Clinton faces with a dearth of challengers is that her nomination will look more like a coronation. That’s what she and her supporters expected in 2008, but we all know how that turned out.

Iowa Democrat activist Anne Kinzel says, “The hacks think Hillary is entitled to be president. I think she is one of those people who has lost the sense of why they are in politics.” That sentiment seems to be spreading.

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod told USA Today that Clinton has to project a fresh message about where she wants to take the country: “I think she has to approach the campaign like a challenger, not like a front-runner – like an insurgent.” Odd advice for a woman who has been plotting a White House run since at least 2000, and perhaps 1993 if you consider that whole “co-presidency” thing she and Bill had going on.

Clinton’s operation, whenever it kicks in, will not leave anything to chance. Fundraising, public appearances and media relations will all be well orchestrated. It’s Clinton’s truckloads of political baggage that will be the problem.

One interesting tidbit that recently surfaced thanks to Axelrod’s upcoming memoir was Clinton’s plan to get John Edwards out of the 2008 race by offering him the attorney general slot in exchange for his endorsement. This was before Edwards’ career went up in smoke thanks to his own scumbag behavior. He cheated on his wife while she was dying of cancer, fathered an illegitimate child and lied about it, and then used campaign funds to support his mistress and cover it all up. Yeah, he would’ve made a great AG.

We can’t be sure how Clinton would have handled the Edwards debacle when it did blow up, and it would have sooner or later. There’s little doubt the Leftmedia will circle the wagons rather than ask Clinton about her 2008 plans for Edwards. After all, it doesn’t exactly burnish her credentials as a champion of women’s causes – especially after she stood by her man, Bill, for little other reason than vain ambition. But at this point, what difference does it make, right?