1. Should Hillary campaign as a man or a woman? This is the question that bedeviled her 2008 campaign, when she had to assume that her ultimate Republican adversary would attack her for being weak on defense. I think if you could catch her in an unguarded moment, she might well tell you that her vote on the Iraq war was premised on that concern. Since her foreign policy bona fides have been established by her tenure as Secretary of State, and Trump is running as a neo-isolationist, the issue is less fraught this time–she can run as a strong woman.
2. Will Bill Clinton be an asset or a liability to the campaign? There are actually two parts to this question: one deals with his legacy as President; and the other, with his campaigning skills. Bill has struggled at times in dealing with attacks from the left, but doing battle with Republicans puts him in his comfort zone, and moderates tend to view the late 90’s as a golden age of sorts. He will be an asset.
3. Does Hillary represent continuity or change? She needs to draft off Obama’s relative popularity without sounding as if she lacks vision. The answer to this question is incremental change, which is consistent with the best case in the real world.