What if Hillary Clinton drops out?

First, before I get started, let me say that this is not to question Hillary Clinton or her campaign. Don't put me in the vile category of Matt Lauer who was taken to task by the New York Times for daring to ask her questions during a recent NBC forum.

And please don't include me in "the deplorables" Mrs. Clinton defines as racists, homophobes and Islamaphobes who support Trump.

Clinton, who is the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, has not actually had a press conference in 2016. And I completely understand why the New York Times wants her to be protected from prying questions. It now turns out that she has been ill for weeks.

This probably comes as no surprise to the long lines of well wishers she has been coughing over at events across America. There must be a trail of pneumonia a thousand miles long.

No, no, Hillary Clinton does not have neurological issues. Notwithstanding the concussion and the blood clot on the brain, this is not about any of that. This is just pneumonia. As Donald Trump would say, "Believe me." She just has highly contagious pneumonia. No neurological issues. It would be highly inappropriate to pry about that.

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And to prove that point her campaign had her appear outside of Chelsea's apartment and smile and wave to the media, who stood back to give her room to cough and arranged for her to hug a little girl and get her picture taken. Apparently, Hillary's highly contagious pneumonia is not relevant for the little girl. After all, a photo op is a photo op.

A few nights before, people paid $34,000 a piece to contract pneumonia. This little girl got it for free.

But just for the record. Just to know. Just for fun. What would happen if Hillary Clinton's health forced her to drop out of the presidential race?

Keep in mind, it's not gonna happen. But let's say for another candidate, one less protected by the New York Times and the 1 percent, an ordinary, non-Clinton candidate in the same situation.

FDR had polio and got elected. John F. Kennedy carried colitis, prostatitis and Addison's disease into the White House with him. He was drugged throughout much of his presidency and suffered side affects such as depression. Of course, the voters didn't know about all of this at the time.

Presidents and presidential candidates get sick like the rest of us. They even get pneumonia. President Eisenhower had heart attacks during his second term in office. In 1973, President Richard Nixon was hospitalized for pneumonia. When he was released he made such a subtle joke that the media missed it. Said Nixon, "The doctors tell me I feel fine."

But OK, OK, if it were to happen, if you insist, let me tell you what we know about who would take her place.

In 1973, Sen. George McGovern won the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in Miami. He chose Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate.

Two weeks later it was learned that Eagleton had neurological issues. He did not have a blood clot on the brain like Hillary Clinton, but he had suffered depression and was hospitalized and experienced electroshock therapy.

McGovern said he was 1,000 percent behind Eagleton. But there was such an animated discussion in the medical community that Eagleton was forced to resign from the ticket. McGovern chose Ambassador Sargent Shriver to replace him, and the Democratic National Committee agreed.

Technically, if Hillary withdraws, the Democratic National Committee will select her replacement. The chairman of the DNC is that very angry, brooding presence on ABC television, Donna Brazile. But the delegates themselves are overwhelmingly with Clinton, handpicked folks who will do as she directs.

What forced Eagleton from the ticket was the drumbeat in the medical community. It became a cacophony the media could not ignore.

In this case, it is hard to imagine that the media and corporate elites who want Hillary are going to let pneumonia be a disqualifier. If raising $3 billion for quid pro quo selling of power and access is acceptable, then they will find the doctors to say what is needed to say to defend Hillary.

In the first debate, with all eyes on her health, Hillary Clinton will get that fast ball right down the middle of the plate, and like Ronald Reagan, who was asked about his age, and knew the question was coming, she should be able to hit the ball out of the park.

"I will not make health an issue of this campaign," she will say, "I will not exploit for political purposes my opponent's irrational and unstable comments."