As the clock to 2016 ticks down, Democrats are fretful that Hillary Clinton and her team aren't prepared for the rigors of a bruising presidential contest based on their botched response to what is now being called 'email-gate.' Clinton is widely expected to launch her presidential bid in the next several weeks. Other than Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has adamantly said she's not running, Clinton is seen as the only Democrat with enough credibility and name id to weather a national campaign. While many Democrats continue to stand with Clinton, others are questioning the wisdom of the party's  approach as it seeks to win the Oval Office for a third consecutive time. Scroll down for video . Democrats are fretful that Hillary Clinton and her team aren't prepared for the rigors of a bruising presidential contest based on their botched response to what is now being called 'email-gate' 'My view of the electorate is, we react badly to inevitability, because we experience it as entitlement, and that is risky, it seems to me, here in America,' former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told the New York Times. 'I want Democrats to win.' Democrats have never been particularly comfortable with handing Clinton the party's nomination. Buying into that notion of 'inevitability' is how the former New York senator lost her 2008 bid to Barack Obama, and it could lead to defeat for the party at the polls next November. But if not Clinton, then who? 'There is no one else — she’s the whole plan,' Sarah Kovner,a high-dollar Democratic fundraiser based out of New York told the Times. 'She is by far the most experienced and qualified person we could possibly nominate. Not even on the horizon but on the far horizon.' Clinton has been hit hard throughout the last two weeks from politicians and pundits all across the political spectrum for her use of a private email system while serving as secretary of state. Republicans, and Democrats who worry about Clinton's viability as a candidate, contend that the calculated move to avoid using an email address directly registered to the federal government will intensify the public perception that Hillary and her husband, Bill, are secretive and therefore potentially untrustworthy. Clinton has said that she sent the State Department copies of all her work-related emails, but there's no way to verify her statements, as she retains the rights to both her inbox and the computer server she ran them through. And the White House said on Thursday that the federal government neither reviewed Clinton's personal email nor was it 'particularly interested' in doing so to make sure she hadn't tossed out anything of importance. If not Clinton, then who? : While many Democrats continue to stand with the former secretary of state, others are questioning the wisdom of the party's approach as it seeks to win the Oval Office for a third consecutive time . Still a candidate-in-waiting, Clinton had to tackle the controversy over her emails this week with limited resources. She held a press conference to address the matter on Tuesday at the United Nations' headquarters in New York after a speech, allowing her to push much of the advance work onto the venue's staff and off her small band of aides. The former secretary of state has already built a network of campaign staff, but they, like her, must continue to linger in the wings until Clinton's candidacy becomes official. That will reportedly happen sometime in April, as early as the first day of the month, according to a report in the Guardian this week. The gap in staffing helped cripple Clinton's ability to strike back in real time to verbal assaults on her character throughout the last two weeks as fury over her email practices reached its peak. House Select Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, like-minded House Republicans and not-yet-announced GOP presidential contenders, who are using their leadership PACs as cover until they declare their own candidacies, pounced on the weakness and flooded the media with statements attacking Clinton. 'Given State's delay in disclosing the fact Secretary Clinton exclusively used personal email to conduct State business, there is no way to accept State's or Secretary Clinton's certification she has turned over all documents that rightfully belong to the American people,' he said in a statement on Tuesday after hew news conference. Then-senator Hillary Clinton is pictured here at a rally at Cal State University in East Los Angeles during her 2008 campaign for president. She is expected her announce her 2016 candidacy in the next few weeks . House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, who took the gavel from California Rep. Darrell Issa in January, Wednesday that in light of the recent developments, Oversight would open a new investigation into Clinton, having already concluded its review of the 2012 terrorist strike on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, before the current session of Congress. Chaffetz believes Clinton may have violated the Federal Records Act with her conduct - an offense that would fall under his committee's jurisdiction. 'I’d rather not have to subpoena her, but if she’s fully cooperative there wouldn’t be a need,' he told the Wall Street Journal. Campaign staff or no campaign staff, Democratic heavy-weights have said that Clinton should have publicly reacted to the email crisis much quicker. 'Had this story been responded to in two or three days instead of in eight days, it would not be as big,' President Obama's first White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, told the Washington Post. 'They are the ones who put air in this balloon in a way that was not necessary at all. . . . It’s clear they lack an apparatus. She’s a candidate without a campaign.'
Dems are fretful that Clinton and her team aren't prepared for the rigors of a bruising contest based on their botched response to email-gate . Clinton is seen as the only Democrat with enough credibility and name id to weather a national campaign, though . Still a candidate-in-waiting, Clinton had to tackle the controversy over her emails this week with limited resources . The gap in staffing helped cripple Clinton's ability to strike back in real time to verbal assaults  as fury over her email practices reached its peak .