Does Bernie Sanders surge threaten Hillary?
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be the prohibitive favourite to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but that doesn't mean the political ground beneath her feet is solid.
In 2008 and again in 2012 a liberal coalition of minorities, college-educated whites and single women gave Barack Obama more than enough votes to comfortably win the presidency. Can it hold fast after he exits the stage next year?
A two-term presidency can paper over a host of fissures within a political movement. The longer a party stays in power, the more competing interests are liable to grow dissatisfied with their share of the governing pie.
Sometimes the centre holds. In 1988, for instance, George HW Bush rode to power on the strength of the Ronald Reagan governing coalition. By 1992, however, the foundation had given way, as fiscal and social conservatives revolted, ushering in eight years of Democratic rule and pushing the Republican Party farther to the right.
At the Netroots Nation conference of left-wing activists in Phoenix, Arizona, last week, the fault lines within today's Democratic Party were on full display. And while Mrs Clinton was more than a thousand miles away, honouring "prior commitments" in Iowa and Arkansas,
the events that transpired in the desert this weekend should give her pause.
There's no question, for instance, that the enthusiasm and support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign is real. He's climbed in polls over the past few weeks, and on Saturday night 11,000 turned out to hear the firebrand socialist give one of his 60-minute stem-winders.
On the menu was a heavy dose of liberal red meat - including condemnation of the "billionaire class" and calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, expanding government-run healthcare programmes, raising the minimum wage and tuition-free college education.
"Bernie Sanders stands up for what's just and right," says conference attendee Jean Devine of Phoenix. "He's for the Democratic ideals of equality for all people and for the rich not being able to buy elections."
While in Arizona, campaign supporters hoisted banners and toasted their man at a local nightclub with cleverly named cocktails like "Weekend at Bernie's" and "Vermont Treehugger" (with maple syrup-infused whiskey).
There was a point in time when Mrs Clinton was the cool Democrat. She had her own internet meme. She was near universally beloved by party faithful. Now, however - at least among the rank and file at Netroots Nation -
Mr Sanders is the candidate of the hour.
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On Friday morning Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a champion of the left, used her keynote address to rail against an "insider Washington" that ignores the liberal priorities of the nation at large - on issues like gun control, income inequality and tighter Wall Street controls.
"The American people are progressive, and our day is coming," she said.
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