The Dems want her to lose. That gets the Clintons out of the Dems' hair, lets them set up Trump as the Menace To Society, positions them to take the Senate in 2018, and then they can run a True Believer in 2020 who will promise to fix everything that they will blame Trump for breaking down. At least that's their plan.
The Dems are clearly split... split on insiders v outsiders...split on ideology and issues .... split on identity group ranking.... do Transgenders out rank african-americans in sympathy?
Also, many Dems believe in cyclical marxism. They believe the economy is again about to tank. They love to say the econony tanked under Hoover and Bush. They want it to go 3 for 3.
So a lot to support you theory.
I am going to go on record right now - MOOCH will be the Dems 2020 Nominee....
They may be so scared of her that they had no choice to have her be the nominee. I am not so sure the debates matter. Only people watch that are marginally informed and have made their choice already. Maybe he if Hillary ate a live black baby on tv it may sway 4-6 of her voters away.