Hillary Clinton is already an odds-on favorite to run for president in 2016, if you take your odds from people like Maureen Dowd and Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.

Discussing Dowd's column about a possible Hillary Clinton presidential run on Morning Joe Wednesday, Heilemann put the chance of a Clinton run at 99.4 percent (despite her past denials she'll seek the nomination). That gibes with Dowd's thesis that the recent furor over insurance-funded birth control (and the "craven" response of Republican candidates to Rush Limbaugh's comments on the subject) "has not only breathed life into President Obama, it has roused and riled Hillary."

Dowd also writes that "The Republican assault on women does, though, provide a glide path to the White House both for Obama in 2012 and Hillary in 2016." Halperin was a bit more conservative, saying his odds for a Clinton candidacy were "a little lower," but he did not give his own number. "I think that if Joe Biden wins reelection [as vice president] and runs, she’s much less likely to run,” he said. Biden's already on the record saying he'd consider a 2016 run. But in spite of her denial that she wants the job, Hillary's already the highest-profile possible candidate. Last month The New York Times' David Leonhardt wrote: "The candidate looming above all others is Hillary Rodham Clinton, who would instantaneously become the front-runner if she entered the race." Not bad advance praise should she decide to enter the race.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at amartin at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Martin