If you look at what the State Department response in March 2013 was to the questions that Issa asked ALL Departments in letters sent in December 2012, this was not handled by political people, but by the career foreign service staff.

What made that possible was that the State Department DID have practices and policies that were updated under Clinton that dealt with this issue. At the time the response was made, the current Secretary of State was complying with them. Recently, that response was questioned as not referring to what HRC did -- but the question did not ask for history - even of recent vintage.

Another story was JK asking the Inspector General of the State Department to look at the email policies and what the practices are. This seems to be setting standards going forward -- and this is something that might insure more transparency and better management. (Note he became Inspector General in September 2013 -- after the post was vacant for 6 years. I will be surprised if that fact is not mentioned sometime in the campaign.) The good thing about that post being filled and JK assigning him this task is that it is FORWARD looking and the main story might be not just any problems, but the setting of new guidelines.

As to Hillary's emails, there could be a perceived problem that it took almost 2 years to get the ones her team wanted them to have.

However, that it took this long may have been because while they likely knew that HRC used her own server, it might have been assumed that she followed guidelines that said that those emails should be given to the State Department. The fact that there were HRC emails given to various committees and media might itself have hidden that they didn't have them directly from HRC -- but had some because the recipient (s) had them. (This also explains why the committee members themselves did not raise an alarm.)

That they did not have her files is something that might have had to work its way up -- and in spring 2014, even Kerry's chief of Staff had to negotiate with the Clinton team to get the emails -- and then it took half a year before they got them. The State Departments actions last year may actually have helped HRC - bringing this up after she gave the State Department all the files that she said pertained to work.

Clinton put the burden on the State Department to put out all the emails after redacting them. I would assume that the people cleaning them and putting them in a form to release them are career SD lawyers. The BIG UNANSWERABLE question will be what did HRC hide? No matter what is put out that will be asked -- and asked of HRC, not the SD. This is the problem she brought on herself by not doing what Kerry is doing now.

Kerry might want to save the Obama administration embarrassment, but the best way is his own honest compliance, his call to investigate and review policy and staying as hands off on the process for putting HRC's out there as possible. Fortunately, it also is the safest as far as he is concerned.

Not to mention he is already working overtime on thing like Iran, climate change, Cuba .... This is something that - even if their were no conflict of interest, political problems - that he should and would have delegated. (In fact, early on in a House hearing, he both delegated the entire Benghazi issue, while assigning it importance to David Wade. )