It's as if the last seven years never happened. In the White House race, Hillary Clinton has raced ahead to be the prohibitive early Democratic favorite, Agence France-Presse reported.
Clinton knocked out the potential Democratic field in a Washington Post poll on Thursday, showing that she would handily dispatch scandal-dented Republican hopeful Chris Christie in a 2016 general election.
Still, the fact that Clinton is leading polls at this early stage hardly means she'll burst through the glass ceiling in which she said she made 18 million cracks in the 2008 White House race, according to AFP.
Clinton was the heavy early favorite for the Democratic nomination in 2008 - until Barack Obama exploded into life just before voting started and snatched away the prize.
Although there are no rock star candidates hiding in the wings this time around, the lesson of 2008 is that apparent "inevitability" does not guarantee victory, AFP reported.
With no candidate being declared yet, polls this early in a presidential race are notoriously unreliable.
However, it is apparent that any Democrat taking Clinton on could be in for a rough ride, AFP reported.
"According to the survey, the former secretary of state would trounce her closest possible rival, Vice President Joe Biden, in a primary race," AFP reported. "She currently leads him 73 percent to 12 percent among Democrats and Independents who lean Democratic."
Even at this point, a six-to-one lead seems almost impossible for Biden to make up.
In the third spot with eight percent is Populist Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a favorite with the party's left wing grass roots.
The potential Republican primary figures to be much closer, with former vice presidential nominee congressman Paul Ryan leading the pack with 20 percent, ahead of former Florida governor and "first brother" Jeb Bush with 18 percent, AFP reported.
Once seen as the Republican establishment's standard bearer, New Jersey Governor Christie has seen his hopes dimmed by local scandal and has just 13 percent among Republican and Republican-leaning Independents.
Next comes Texas firebrand Senator Ted Cruz, followed by libertarian Senator Rand Paul with 11 percent, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio with 10 percent.
Among registered voters, Clinton -- who has said she will decide this year whether to run -- outpoints Christie 53 percent to 41 percent in a hypothetical matchup for the White House, AFP reported.
Signs that she would be a massive favorite in the Democratic race however will build intense pressure on the former first lady as she mulls whether to launch a new campaign in the pseudo-war ahead of the 2016 race, which will last until this year's mid-term congressional elections.
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