Editorial report. Im paul gigot. That was Hillary Clinton on tuesday sounding very much like a general election candidates. Her campaign is reportedly preparing their trump battle plan, but does the democratic frontrunner have her own vulnerabilities to overcome first . Were back with Dan Henninger, James Freeman and kim stossel. Is this the sp last challenge. It was always going to be a hard challenge. He had the surprise victory, in fact what she did to him on tuesday was beat him in most every important group. So its very difficult, just not in the delegate map, but in the map Going Forward to see any path for Bernie Sanders to get to the nomination. I guess i would say at least theres a Silver Lining here, the protectist message in terms of Bernie Sanders, it kind of fell flat in the other states. The other Silver Lining is markism may be losing, the u. S. Is not going to nominate a democratic socialist, but i think barring an indictment of Hillary Clinton, this is now her nomination. Not only did she have the sweep on tuesday, she has the real delegate lead. The game has also been rigged to give her all these super delegates, so thats her insurance policy in case he actually did mount a real charge among voters, so i think barring a real criminal problem, shes got the nomination. True. What did we learn about Hillary Clinton as a candidate in this primarily season. How does she compare to 2008 . Like shipped last week, were going to put coal miners out of the snow work. I cant remember anyone ever running for president saying theyre going to kill jobs. But she has more vulnerability. James alluded to one of them. Some of the Democratic Party is not democratic socialist, Younger Voters in their 20s, by and large i will say are simply socialist. This was their moment. Byrnies was their vessel for that. This has been building for a while. Her support is pretty weak among male voters. This raise i see the question about steve moore, whether some of these democratic males are going to say im done with this party, and im abandoning the democrats because of what they have become. So shes got a lot of her own unification work to do. Yeah, kim, she has untrust worthy issues too. Her net rating was minus 13, trumps is much higher, but she has real credibility problems. I guess the question is, you always run its one on one in the end of november, so i guess its vulnerability maybe versus vulnerability, but the other question is, can Hillary Clinton mobilize enough of the Obama Coalition to be able to replicate his majority . That gets to her super big problem, paul, which is that youve got the vulnerables you have just outlined. We have seen not a lot of enthusiasm for her out there. Shes been the turnout numbers have not been very big. Shes been pushed to the left in order to compete with bernie for all these voters, and everyone keeps saying maybe shell pivot back to the general election. Maybe she will, but can she convince if she does, that ascendant wing, the liberal people, the part of the Obama Coalition, to come out and vote for her. Thats one of her big problems. James, you mentioned the fbi. Is that her biggest obstacle now, the investigation into her email handling mishandling of classified information on her private server . That would be the biggest obstacle to the nomination. As weve been discussing, she has big issues trying to get elected, but yes, the potential legal problem is there, and its former attorney general has laid out in our pages what happen to be clear violations of law. I think if this were any other person not named clinton, you would normally expect charges. When we have looked at cases previously, general deaf petraeus come to mind. People would argue he doid far less egregious behavior. There wasnt an effort to wall off all communication, but also the security measures we rely on. But the Democratic Party is coalescing, the Republican Party is still a long way from united, and divided parties usually lose. Still ahead, president Obamas Supreme Court pick sets up an electionyear showdown. The upcoming battle on capitol hill, next. I take pictures of sunrises. Its my job and its also my passion. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep. So i couldnt get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last into the morning. And now. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Its tempting to make this confirmation process simply an extension of our divided politics. The squabbling thats going on in the news every day. But to go down that path would be wrong. President obama wednesday unveiling his pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Merrick garland nomination sets up an electionyear showdown with republicans, who again vowed this week to not hold hearings before november. Its his right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and its the senates constitutional right to act as a check on the president and withhold its consent. The senate will continue to observe the biden rule, so that the American People have a voice in this momentous decision. Were back with Dan Henninger and wall street Journal Editorial Board member colin levy, and the best of the web james to ronno, so what kind of judge is Merrick Garland . Merrick garland is the kind of judge specifically chosen by president obama to put republicans on the hot seat. Hes not known as a bombthrowing liberal, but he knows hell be a re4r50ib89 fifth vote, and he knows that because of the loan tenure on the d. C. Court of appeals. The d. C. Court of appeals doesnt hear a lot of hot button issues, but a steady diet of federal regulatory appeals. On those kinds of cases, he has shown significant and consistent deference to Administrative Agency decisions. Thats something important to president obama, because he knows the next court will be hearing a lot of challenges to his regulatory agenda. So the idea is people are describing it as a moderate, but the truth is if he gets on the court, on all of these hot button issues hes almost certain to vote with the four liberals to create a new liberal majority . Is that what youre saying . Yes, theres no question about that. If you look at whats happened, even within the liberal minority or semiminority thats currently on the court. 44. Yeah, 44. You know, the justices that come on, kagan and sotomayor, people said they would be moderates, too, but theres been incredible consensus on the left side, something that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has made a point to encourage. If you look at justice kagan, the last term on the court, she disagreed with her colleagues . Single digits across the board, 7 ,l 6 , 8 , so i think theres no questions he would be in the same and james, one issue, guns, Second Amendment jurisprudence, city Merrick Garland seems to be on the left, by implication from some of his decisions on the right to bear arms for individuals. Its probably a safe bet that if obama or mrs. Clinton puts a justice on the court to replace justice scalia, we can kiss the Second Amendment goodbye. As an individual right. Right. Theyll say still in militia and protecting a lot of state constitutions, but still that was an importance advance . Jurisprudence that would go away. So republicans, do you agree with the republican calculation that they should not vote on garland, even if perhaps they might get somebody more liberal under the next president . If the next president is mrs. Clinton they should go ahead and confirm garland after the election, but i want to go back to what senator mcconnell said about the biden rule. In 1992, joe biden said we shouldnt have any confirmation hearings during an election year. Now, this was a replacement of the earlier biden practice, which he did in 1987, and 1991, when, as now, the balance of the court was at stake. Biden was chairman of the judiciary committee. It held confirmation hearings and just waged vicious campaigns of character assassination against robert bork and Merrick Garland by all accounts is a decent man. He doesnt deserve that treatment any more than bork and thomas did. And well qualified, for doubt about it, but if there were hearings, there could be a vicious fight it would be outside groups to come in and do the skirty work . The alternative would be the republicans surrending saying you can change the balance of theanytime you want, but we cant . The politics of this people say republicans will pay a price for this opposition. Do you agree . I completely disagree with that idea. I think james is right. If they were toy simply go ahead and say to the democrats, you want to change the comp position of the court, 54, thats the way it falls, the Republican Party would implode. I mean, this is such a voting issue for republicans. To the politics, i dont think its a big voting issue for most democrats. It is for the activists, but out there in the country, the Supreme Court is not the thing foremost in their mind. Mainly what theyre concerned about is federal spending, but for the republicans, the base, the sort of thing that collin was talking about is extremely important. They would say home in the republicans caved on this. Do you agree that if the republicans lose, Hillary Clinton becomes the next president , that the republicans should confirm garland in the lame duck session after the election . Sure, that makes perfect sense. President obama says thats who he wants and republicans have said if Hillary Clinton wins well go with what a democrat wants and i think that would be a reasonable way to proceed. The politics, do you think it cuts the same way dan says . I think it probably cuts both ways, but it cuts both ways anyway. I expect the results of the republicans not Holding Hearings is well hear about if it for a week or so, then hear little about it until november. Thank you all. When we come back, so much about the quagmire that president obama predicted. Russian troops are being pulled out of the syria. What did Vladimir Putin accomplish . And what is the next move . Technology. Technology. Say, have you seen all the Amazing Technology in geicos mobile app . Mobile app . Look. Electronic id cards, emergency roadside service, i can even submit a claim. Wow. Yep, geicos mobile app works like a charm. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. It takesim on the move. To all day long. Ss. And sometimes, i just dont eat the way i should. So i drink boost to get the nutrition that im missing. Boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a great taste. I dont plan on slowing down any time soon. Stay strong. Stay active with boost. Now try new boost® compact and 100 calories. An attempt by russia and iran to try to pacify the population, is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire, and it wont work. Well, so much for that quagmire. In a bryce move, russian president Vladimir Putin announced this week that hes ordered his military to start withdrawing the main part, saying they largely achieved the combat goals. Bret stephens joins us with more. How do you read this withdrawal from putin. Has he achieved what he wanted . Its a master stroke by putin. He achieved exactly what he wanted. When russian planes and troops went into syria last summer, it collapse. He managed to transform the battlefield equation. The assad regime is now basically has been shored up. It doesnt look like its going to fall any time soon. The rebels are on the defensive. Russia has enhanced its military preprestige. Putin has enhanced his political prestige and now hes getting out with very few if any casualties. And his reputation burnished all the way from tehran to washington. So he has proved president obama exactly wrong while show that military power can change the facts on the ground. You were in a meeting with me this week with those of us and gary cast pa remove, former chess champion and he took a different view of this in saying he thinks his withdrawal is a sign of putins weakness, that he wanted to avoid taking casualties, that the intervention in syria was becoming less popular in russia and he wanted to avoid getting further drawn in. How do you respond to that . I think hes mistaken. Obviously, hes someone always to be taken very seriously for his insight and his great intelligence and his courage. But it seems to me that putin was able to get out with everything pretty much intact. Also, i think theres no question that putin did want a time limited intervention. The russian economy is under stress. This was costing them some amount of money. And there was always the risk that there could be an incident like when the russian planes were shot down by turkey. I think there was some fear of what the turks might do. But right now this looks like, from a Russian Point of view, a very clean intervention. A very clean exit for a clear goal that hes achieved. Now, one of the other goals that i thought putin was going for is the is the get europe and United States to ease its sanctions for coming into for his invasion of ukraine. And do you think that maybe by pulling out here he hopes to say maybe induce president obama and Angela Merkel of germany to say, okay, this gesture by putin makes it easier for us to ease sanctions and have a reset of russian relations. Once again, before president obama leaves office. Right. That he is he gives the impression hes not a rogue leader, but that hes a responsible leader, seeking a kind of global stability, a man who is willing to step into the breach in the middle east. A man that the west can do business with. And quite frankly, you see it with john kerrys visits to meet with president putin, with russias deep involvement in almost every single diplomatic question. So i think theres almost no doubt that at some point, the europeans are going to say, why do we continue to sanction the russians at some cost to our own economy . And the iran sanctions russia vetoed. Sanctions against iran this week after iran fired Ballistic Missiles that could carry a Nuclear Weapon in violation of the recent nuclear deal. But no sanctions at the u. N. And the u. S. Cant do much about that, can it . No, thats right. Because of the foolish way in which john kerry engineered the restrictions on Ballistic Missiles, putting it in the hands of the united nations, where russia wields a veto. But look, moscow now has a new bff in the middle east. Thats tehran. Theyre consolidating a relationship. By the way, moscow is looking to be selling about 8 billion worth of arms, sophisticated arms to iran. And one of the things that this intervention in syria did is showcase the sophistication of Russian Military equipment. So briefly, dan, president obama visiting cuba this coming week, historic visit since the revolution in 1959. Has anything changed in cuba since the president s reproach mal . Yes, it has. Life has gotten worse for the dissidents there. The wall street journal had an article. More people are being arrested and more sent out of cuba, who have opposed the cuban regime. Dan, brett, thanks very much. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. Time now for our hits and misses of the week. Kim, start us off. Paul, a miss to attorney general, loretta lynch, referred a request to the fbi that it look into process cuting criminally any groups that disagree with the agenda on climate science. This has become a big, fashionable thing for guys like rhode island senator, Sheldon White house, unable to convince the public of the science and cause. So now its suggesting it be better to throw his ideological opponents in jail. Maybe she could just figure out what happened with Hillary Clintons server. Okay. James toronto. Paul, this is a story of the sinister side of political correctness. A miss to the university of new orleans, where the chief justice of the Student Government has put out instructions for righthanded people to check their privilege. Heres what he writes for us north paws. Quote, dont try to silence a lefthanded person who complains about scissors hurting their hand or how uncomfortable school desks are to sit in. Or the struggle of having dirty hands from writing in pencil. Theres no censorship, i want you to know among upper lefthanded people at the journal. Dan. Heavens no. My miss is about pigeons flying overhead, so stay alert. In london, they are attaching tiny little electronic backpacks to the backs of a flock of pigeons, and these pigeons are supposed to fly around london, detecting air pollution levels. Nitrogen oxide and so forth. The idea of using pigeons to detect pollution brings a lot of thoughts to mind. I think im just going to leave it at that. James. Well, this is coming through the lens of my north paw privilege. But a hit to the yale bulldogs first win ever in the ncaa tournament this week. Their first appearance since john f. Kennedy was president. So now the school that invented football also having some success on the hardwood is a pretty good week. Shameless alma mater plug. Are they going to win beat duke . Just a few hours away they tip off. And kyle wanefield calling the insufferablety bowl. If you have your own hit or miss, tweet it to us on jer on fnc. Thanks to my panel and all of you for watching. Im paul gigot. Hope to see you here next week. A fox news alert right now. Live pictures from fountain hills, arizona. That is a suburb of phoenix. You are looking at a highway that is heading to a donald trump event ahead of tuesdays republican primary in arizona and a number of protesters have shut down the highway en route to the event. Earlier we saw a number of cars parked sideways on the highway. They brought in a tow truck to try and bring those cars out. And as we watch this picture over the past ten minutes or so, theres even been some clashes and some skirmishes as what right now is a standoff in arizona en route to a donald trump event. Yeah, its safe to say that the election and the passions on