Hillary Watch 2016: What gives Republicans nightmares?

By Richard K. Barry

Time magazine ran a piece this week on Republican concerns about a Hillary Clinton run for the presidency in 2016. The GOP got together recently at the Republican National Committee's spring meeting "with plans to court minority votes and modernize their political operations." But high on their list of problems is the fear is that no matter what they do, Clinton will clean their clocks. 

Near the end of Zeke J. Miller's piece is this comment:

But the perception of Clinton as more moderate than Obama is another component of the GOP's Hillary fear, especially as the party struggles to boost its appeal to liberal-minded minorities and young voters. One state chair described the GOP's annual meeting as less about winning and more about fighting to remain a credible alternative to the Democratic Party. "We can't even think about winning until we stop losing voters every cycle," he said.

Then, of course, they're is this:

And one former Romney aide here warned that grassroots activists pushing for an even more conservative GOP identity could seal the party’s fate: "If we listen to some of the people here and come back with a hardline conservative in 2016, she’ll wipe the floor with us."

It's a funny little box the Republicans have put themselves in. Clinton might be able to expand the Democratic voter base by being perceived as more moderate than Obama. At the same time, the more liberal component of the Democratic support won't complain as long as the GOP continues to court hardline conservatives.