John Fund‘s latest column for National Review Online compares Hillary Clinton to one of the most controversial American political figures of the late 20th century.

Ever since Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal broke earlier this month, comparisons between her secretive style and that of Richard Nixon, whom she ironically pursued as a young lawyer on the House impeachment committee, have been frequent. But with Friday’s revelation that she wiped her private e-mail server clean after her records were requested by the State Department last year, the comparisons are becoming more concrete. Washington wags note that even Nixon never destroyed the tapes, but Hillary has permanently erased her e-mails.

Exactly what would a Hillary presidency look like, and could it plunge the nation into another round of debilitating Clinton scandals? That’s a question Democrats should ask themselves before they hand the nomination over to her with barely a fight. Indeed, while a new CBS poll finds more than eight out of ten Democrats want her to run, a surprising 66 percent want to see her run with strong competition in the primaries.

Many Democrats have reservations about Hillary’s cozy relations with Wall Street, her 2002 vote for the Iraq War, and the Clinton couple’s “flexibility” on issues. “They love winning. They’re both masters of it, Hillary maybe even more than Bill. But that’s not the same as having a belief system,” noted the liberal Rolling Stone magazine this month. But some Democrats also want Hillary to be challenged on her Nixonian penchant for slipperiness and questionable fundraising.

A strong primary challenge would provide clues as to how she would run in a general election — something Democrats should know. After all, the first Clinton presidency was good for the Clintons, but not for the Democratic party, which lost both houses of Congress along with a majority of the nation’s governorships — and during a time of economic prosperity and peace.