If she's elected president next year — and, hell, even if she isn't — 2015 will have been a critical year in Hillary Clinton's life. It was the year a majority of Democrats — and a majority of Americans, in some surveys — conceded, at least to pollsters, that they believe she's the most qualified person to be president. It also happened to the be the year Americans got to see what Hillary Clinton is really like, not at a town hall, or in a campaign video, but in private, via her own emails. We learned about her grocery list ("Gefilte fish: Where are we on this?") and her trouble finding a local NPR station on the dial.

Here's how Clinton's year played out.