Hillary was never that formidable. If there wasn't 9/11 she would have sold her vote for something else that would have cost her the dem nomination.
Her support is almost entirely east of the Hudson.
With the entirety of the Washington Press Corps behind her she would have been quite formidable in 2004, make no mistake. The internet had not yet come into its own at that stage. It was nowhere near as pervasive as it is today, and the main stream media still held a monopoly on the dissemination of information. Although it could be seen that the monopoly was in trouble, it was still, in many respects, intact.
If there wasn't 9/11 she would have sold her vote for something else that would have cost her the dem nomination.
Perhaps, but with that unified press behind her, it would have been far easier to obscure, just as various and sundry things were obscured in her husband's administration. Point in fact, she still largely relies on it today, but it has nowhere near the potency as a weapon it had twelve years ago.
Her support is almost entirely east of the Hudson.
She also has/had quite a bit of support on the Left Coast, which should not be forgotten...
the infowarrior