2008 D Primary if Obama lost his 2004 Senate race

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Let's see that through Peter Fitzgerald running for and winning reelection, Mike Ditka running for Senate, or whatever, Barack Obama lost the 2004 Illinois Senate election.

How would the 2008 Democratic primary have panned out?

I personally think Rod Blagojevich was delusional enough that he would have run for president had Obama not been in the mix. I doubt he would even have won his home state (which voted March 1 that year).

But would others have run? Would Hillary have run relatively unopposed, or would another candidate have emerged as the leading challenger to Hillary, or even beaten her?

And how would the nominee have done in the general election?

I think Hillary Clinton would have had a relatively easy path to nomination and would still have beaten John McCain, though perhaps not by quite the margin by which Obama defeated him.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

Clinton wins, no questions about that.