As Hillary's inevitability collapses into vulnerability, Sanders steps back and O'Malley steps forward.

It's not that we thought Bernie Sanders was ever a serious candidate. He was always only a place keeper/a voice in the debate, so that Hillary would have to speak to the left as well as the right/an old man in a dim spotlight, crying out I exist!

But the scenery has changed and it's time to exit the stage. He tells Politico:

"If I run it has to be done well.... And if it�s done well, and I run a winning campaign or a strong campaign, it is a real boon to the progressive community, because I believe that the issues I talk about are issues that millions and millions of people believe in. On the other hand, if one were to run a poor campaign, didn�t have a well-funded campaign, didn�t have a good organization, did not do well, because of your own limitations, then that would be a setback for the progressive community."

If...

In other words: Don't look at me.

Meanwhile, Martin O'Malley is shouting ME!:

�Well sure, it would be important to me,� he said Thursday on MSNBC�s �Morning Joe� when asked about Hillary Clinton�s email practices at the State Department. But he said getting the economy working would be more important.

O�Malley said he didn�t �feel compelled to answer� a follow-up question about Clinton�s actions from Bloomberg Politics� John Heilemann. �Secretary Clinton is perfectly capable of defending her own service in office,� he said.

And Martin O'Malley is perfectly capable of going on the offense. He's right here to topple the quaking edifice of the Hillary Clinton candidacy.

He also addressed his underdog status in the nascent Democratic race for president, saying the �inevitable front-runner is inevitable up until he or she is no longer inevitable. So I think you�re going to see a robust conversation in the Democratic Party,� he said.

O�Malley said American voters are more interested in economic policies than email policies. �After 12 years of declining wages, people want executive leadership that knows how to get things done,� the former governor said, adding that he would make his decision on a presidential run this spring.

There's your candidate, Democrats. You know you need to coalesce around someone other than Hillary, and he's offering himself. MOM is your man.



(That's my screencap of the top of the middle column at Drudge.)