Democrats from the grassroots on up are awakening to the awful truth: Hillary Clinton is a scandal-ridden, unlikable, arrogant, nasty, wealth-obsessed, awkward, gaffe-prone nightmare of a nominee.  Inevitable?  Well, she’s got the party officials locked up and serious alternatives like Elizabeth Warren quaking in their sensible shoes, but she is so unappealing that even Bernie Sanders is starting to look good.

Jonathan Topaz in Politico:

Bernie Sanders scored 41 percent in a straw poll vote at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention this weekend — finishing a close second to Hillary Clinton, who won 49 percent.

The Vermont senator received 208 of 511 delegate votes at the state convention in Milwaukee on Saturday, while Clinton won votes from 252 of the delegates, leaving her just short of a majority. Both Vice President Joe Biden and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who announced his candidacy late last month, received 3 percent of the vote. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who is considering a bid, won 2 percent of the vote, while former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who announced his long-shot candidacy last week, received 1 percent.

Hillary couldn’t even get a majority, and Sanders, who appeals to the increasingly radical leftist base of party activists, came within 8 points of her.

Make no mistake: once the aura of inevitability starts to crumble, Hillary will be very vulnerable, as panicked Democrats cast about for alternatives.  One big problem is that the bench is very weak.  Between the Obama and Clinton machines, the party has managed to denude the lower ranks of potential rivals.  Elizabeth Warren may simply not wish to endure the scrutiny that a candidacy would involve.  But if not her, then who?

Bill de Blasio certainly wants the job of POTUS, but he will have his hands full with New York’s crime rate.  Maybe some of the remaining Dem governors will make a run for it.  But they need to see actual blood on the floor before any make their moves.