That didn’t take long. The first Hillary Clinton 2016 super pac has formed. “Ready for Hillary” has filed with the Federal Election Commission and already has more than 50,000 followers on Twitter. The super pac is being led by two longtime Clinton supporters Allida Black and Judy Beck. They were involved in Clinton’s 2008 campaign in Virginia.
Clinton steps down as Secretary of State on Friday. And she’s leaving with a nice parting gift. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that top Obama donors have paid off Clinton’s remaining 2008 campaign debt with a check for $250,000. News of the campaign bailout comes just days after President Obama and Secretary Clinton made a joint appearance on 60 Minutes, a move that fueled speculation that Obama was trying to position Hillary for a White House run.
Clinton has deflected questions about her political future. And Democratic strategist and pollster Margie Omero, president of Momentum Analysis, told Jansing & Co. that Clinton has plenty of time to decide whether to run.
“Whether she decides in the next few months or in a year or in a year and a half, she’s going to be a strong candidate regardless. She’s going to be able to raise money, she obviously is incredibly well known, polls show she’s incredibly well liked. By contrast, when you look at candidates who start much later—who don’t have that national profile—they can’t ever get off the ground.”
Jonathan Collegio, communications director for the American Crossroads super pac says if “Ready for Hillary” ends up being the official Clinton super pac, it could be a force to reckon with. “Super pacs can be extremely effective in primaries. When you look at Mitt Romney’s super pac and how they were able to take out all these candidates over the course of the 2012 primaries, it can be a very effective thing.”
Vice President Joe Biden is also positioned to consider a 2016 run. The high-profile veep is spearheading the President’s guns task force and helped broker an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. But if Biden or Clinton consider a run, Collegio says they may hit a generational roadblock. “If you were to pair Biden or Clinton against (Marco) Rubio or Paul Ryan, you would have between a 25 to 30 year difference in age between these candidates.” Clinton turns 69 in 2016. Biden will turn 74 and would be the oldest presidential candidate ever.
But Omero doesn’t think age will be a major factor. “Both Vice President Biden and Secretary Clinton bring so much to the table in terms of reaching out to younger voters, Latinos, women–all of the various demographic groups that Republicans have really struggled with over the last few elections and are likely to continue to have a struggle with.”
John Wilson