As it says in the opening of Battlestar Galactica, “And they have a plan.”

From the article:

“We think that we have to bring the public along,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He continued, “We aren’t particularly interested in the Senate. We do believe that if we sufficiently, effectively educate the public, then we will have done our jobs, and we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand, and maybe it will be what needs to be done to incent the Senate to act.”

Various polls still show a majority of Americans do not favor impeachment, but more and more democrats surveyed are climbing aboard.  And why not?  Mueller’s inquiry did not deliver the desired result.  Each Christmas came and went without an indictment until earlier this year – when the investigation ended exonerating the president and his 2016 campaign of conspiracy with the Russians to defeat the media’s and establishment’s candidate. Mueller bizarrely punted on obstruction of justice, delivering a volume that makes a mockery of established jurisprudence.

Democrats now say it’s up to Congress to determine if any crimes were committed simply because Mueller, despite his denials in conversations with Attorney General William Barr, used the veil of DOJ policy that precludes indicting a sitting president.  The final statement that gives rise to democrats impeachment attempts is Mueller reiterating the process that Congress has the mechanism to remove a sitting president for wrongdoing.

In a sense, the report became political precisely because of Mueller’s inexplicable interpretation of DOJ policy and the special counsel’s directives. Many experienced prosecutors have been puzzled at his interpretations of both the evidence and DOJ opinions.  Democrats want Mueller to come to the hill. He doesn’t want to, but I suspect that Mueller is probably not interested in facing questions that both sides would like answered to understand his motives.  Either way, he really muddied the waters that preclude his report being apolitical.

So for democrats, this gives them time to persuade the public before the election that impeachment is the best idea.  Doing so during an election year, however, has its perils. If enough pollsters can find enough democrats to want impeachment before the primaries, I would expect them to pull the trigger.  Let’s see if the media plays its part.