What happens if Joe Biden crashes politically? Could Hillary step in?

Joe Biden answered my blog of yesterday (hahaha) and appeared on MSNBC today to deny in an interview that he had ever sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade. He was unequivocal. It (the allegation of sexually assaulting her in a Senate corridor in 2003) never happened. As one of his current aides said this week: "First, it never happened and second, it never happened." So it never happened, Tara Reade has got her facts wrong, Biden didn't do it, any of it, or it was someone else or her memory has played tricks or she is just a plain lying accuser. He didn't say all of that of course, but every viewer will have come to those sort of conclusions if Biden was telling the absolute truth and nothing but the truth . The trouble is - and this is always the problem when someone is accused of a sexual offence which he/she denies ever took place - little doubts linger, and little doubts lingering when the accused is hoping to become president of the United States in a few months can grow into bigger lingering doubts about almost anything else he says or does. Now that's grossly unfair if he is a totally innocent man who would never sexually harrass or assault any woman ever. But once the seed of doubt is sewn it's very difficult to just cast it to one side and leave it as a past issue which has no relevance to today. Nevertheless, let us do that. Let us put the Biden/Reade contest to one side and examine whether Joe Biden is going to make a terrific president. The signs are not that good. He stumbles with his words, looks a bit confused on occasions and absolutely cannot light up a rally or a room like, I'm afraid, Donald Trump does. So what on earth will happen if Biden crashes well before election time and the Democratic party hierarchy suddenly decide he is not their man after all for taking on Trump. I don't know whether that could happen but it might if things go really badly for Biden over the next few weeks and months. There is a fascinating article in The Hill today - a really excellent Washington-based news website - which provides one possible answer and it's Hillary Clinton. Wow, is that just a total no no or is the ex-First Lady, former presidential candidate and Secretary of State literally waiting in the wings to step forward as the only alternative to Biden if he fizzles out? According to the article that's exactly what she IS doing, putting herself about, appearing on TV as often as possible and desperate to be noticed. I don't know what the rules are but could Hillary really be scooped into the nomination seat without having campaigned in any of the primaries? The first person who would object like mad would be Bernie Sanders, and understandably so. He sweated blood and tears to get where he got in the nomination race, and only dropped out when he realised that Biden was going to win more delegates. So Bernie would want to step in if Biden crashed. But do the Democratic liberals want radical Bernie in charge? Then there is the woman chosen by Biden to be his running mate, whoever she is. If it's, say, Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris, would either of them be acceptable as the instant replacement for Biden? I doubt it. Neither of them have the true experience to become an instant president although Barack Obama did of course. Hillary will have gone through all this in her mind and just perhaps she might have a tiny thought that she could be the Democratic party saviour to take on Trump for a second time. And this time, win. It seems far-fetched but The Hill article makes it sound not impossible. If Hillary has read it, she will have a certain bounce in her feet today. It couldn't happen could it? It might! I bet she would worry Trump more than Biden.