“The institutional apparatus of the Democratic coalition is shifting gears as party strategists, outside groups and the people who finance campaigns prepare for what they believe is an inevitable 2016 presidential bid by Hillary Clinton,” the Washington Post reports.

“All of this may seem premature, and in many ways it is… Still, the signs of activity, and the implications of those efforts, speak to Clinton’s unique position in the Democratic Party and to the understanding that the sophistication of modern politics — especially on the scale of a presidential campaign — requires far more lead time and preparation than it did a generation ago.”

George Will: “Americans profess detestation of politics and its practitioners, but their behavior belies their rhetoric. Last month, a poll reported that 60 percent of Americans favor voting out of office all congressional incumbents, including their own representatives. But just 11 months before this poll revealed the electorate’s (supposedly) extraordinary dyspepsia, voters reelected 90 percent of representatives and 91 percent of senators. Most Americans most of the time have better things to do than feel strongly (aggrieved or otherwise) about politics. They are not as angry about goings-on in Washington as they say they are, or imagine themselves to be, or think they ought to be when a pollster takes their emotional temperature.”

“I think she’d make a good anything.”

— New York City police chief Ray Kelly, in an interview with Playboy, on whether Hillary Clinton would make a good president.

“If you don’t like your Democratic House member, you don’t have to keep him or her.”

— Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), quoted by National Journal.

A new DFM Research survey finds Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) deadlocked in the U.S. Senate race, 41% to 40%.

Key findings: McConnell’s favorable rating is 35%, his unfavorable rating is 55%.

Democrats close to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) are letting potential supporters know the three-term senator is “waiting in the wings” if Charlie Crist’s (D) campaign for Florida governor stumbles, the News Service of Florida reports.

“Nelson’s chief of staff, Pete Mitchell, called some prominent Democrats recently and told them the 71-year-old Nelson, who has been coy about his interest in the governor’s race, is considering a bid.”