40-50% of those polled in those states haven't heard of Sanders. Just name recognition game at this point.

voters think differently when someone isn't in the race. If Joe runs Hillary's vote would go down substantially.

If voters see all the candidates together, and ofte enough, they can compare. If they still prefer Hillary, okay. If they become aware of the others and some have a chance to say "ya know I like that guy (they're all men) maybe I'll give him a chance" okay.

But continuing to sit on the process and keeping the doors shut for actual discourse makes those numbers TOTALLY fucking meaningless.

With a quarter of registered voters not having heard of Sanders and other non-Clinton candidates getting their butts kicked by a guy (Biden) who isn't even running as of yet, I'm sure Clinton would be just fine with there not being any debates.

Can Clinton win Florida and Ohio in a general election? That's the crucial question. I don't have any doubt she can win most of the states, including Pennsylvania, that Obama won. But Florida and Ohio are key, and I'm not confident she'll fare well in either. Up against Walker or Bush or Rubio or Kasich.