Why Hillary Clinton's 'Likeability' May Not Matter to Voters in 2016 ... Hillary Clinton's candidacy will test an important proposition in presidential politics: Do voters cast ballots for candidates they don't necessarily like? Mrs. Clinton isn't hanging her candidacy on the idea that she's especially personable. The thrust of her campaign is that in precarious times she has the résumé, toughness and specific mix of policy proposals that surpass what anyone else has on offer. – Wall Street Journal

Dominant Social Theme: Expertise wins big in 2016 – and Hillary's got it.

Free-Market Analysis: History is funny and perhaps Hillary Clinton will win the presidency because at a Republican special committee on the Benghazi State Department tragedy she testified for 11 hours.

The Committee is run by Trey Gowdy, seemingly one of Congress's more ethical and disciplined members. In a post-hearing interview with "Meet the Press," he made the point that Clinton had asked to testify and had wanted the testimony to be public.

It is certainly possible that she calculated her public testimony would end up in a marathon interview and that the "optics" would be of a grandmother being grilled for a full day by a panel of truculent male Caucasians.

In his interview, Gowdy comes across as surprised that she wanted yet another day of public hearing regarding Benghazi, and this is perhaps the strangest part of the saga. Did Gowdy not know what Hillary was hoping for? If he didn't, he's quite naïve for a politician. And if he did know, he certainly gave her exactly what she wanted. And in the aftermath of the hearing, the mainstream spin was predictable and powerful.

Gowdy himself went on the defensive the next day, and tried to point out that Clinton's third episode of testimony was part of a much larger process. But the damage was done. It was visual damage and no words could change it.

A 60-something woman had been forced to endure an 11-hour grilling and her aplomb and grace under pressure seems to have virtually assured her nomination, absent a variety of other factors. (We'll get to those in a moment.)

This recently published Wall Street Journal article builds on Clinton's Benghazi triumph. Here she cemented her role as a tough, professional politician who could handle almost anything.