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Hillary Rodham Clintons decision to delay a decision about her presidential ambitions until as late as July has stymied efforts of a major allied super PAC to come out of the gate early with a slew of big-money commitments.

Priorities USA Action which has positioned itself as the main advertising vehicle to back a Clinton candidacy had hoped to line up dozens of seven-figure pledges before April as a show of strength, but has secured only about 10, according to people familiar with the situation.

One factor that has contributed to the reluctance: Many wealthy political givers on the left have recently written large checks to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, part a drive to raise money for the nonprofit organization before a likely Clinton presidential run. Major foundation donors have indicated to super PAC fundraisers that they are holding off on other large pledges for now, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.

Priorities slow progress has prompted internal conversations about whether the group will have to recalibrate what it can expect to raise this cycle a sum that people close to the operation originally expected to be around $300 million. The super PACs difficulties in securing pledges was first reported late Tuesday by Politico.

Priorities officials said they are not concerned.

Priorities USA Action chose not to raise money in the 2014 cycle because we did not want to compete with the many good Democrats who were fighting for their political lives, senior adviser Paul Begala said in a statement. We will play a critical role in electing a Democratic President in 2016. Anyone who doubts us should ask President Romney.

Many party fundraisers concur, saying that once Clinton is officially in the race, the money will rush in from loyalists and new donors eager to be part of her candidacy.

I think its like everything else going on -- whats the timeline with her? said one party strategist familiar with the dynamics, who requested anonymity to discuss donor attitudes. Once things are more finalized with what she is doing, their job will become a little easier.

Some top Democratic contributors said they wont consider committing large amounts until she is officially in the race.

Im waiting to see if Hillary announces a campaign and to see what it looks like, said David desJardins, San Francisco-based investor who supports independent political groups on the left.

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Big donors holding off making pledges to pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC

For all who love America, it is time to think of supporting Hillary, not because we necessarily want her for herself but because we want Bill in the role of First Husband. And if Bill can deal with Hillary, he can surely deal with any global crisis.

Mr Johnson also made a reference to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Vince Foster, a close friend of Mrs Clinton's who killed himself with a gun in 1993.

Some opponents of the Clintons have suggested that he may have been killed and they had a hand in his death - a theory refuted by multiple official investigations.

In his column, Mr Johnson referred to "worrying allegations" about "the anomalies in the position of poor Vince Foster's gun".

He also said Mrs Clinton appeared to have spent her eight years as First Lady behaving like "a mixture between Cherie Blair and Lady Macbeth, stamping her heel, bawling out subordinates and frisbeeing ashtrays at her erring husband".

When reminded about his eight-year-old comments by ITV News, Mr Johnson said: "I'm delighted to be able to meet Senator Clinton. I'm sure that whatever I've said in the past will be taken by the Senator who is a very distinguished politician in the light hearted spirit in which it was intended."

Even his efforts to make amends may cause new issues.

While Mrs Clinton was once a senator from New York, and therefore entitled to be called "Senator Clinton", that title was overtaken by her work as US Secretary of State.

Americans universally refer to her as "Secretary Clinton", which may have been the title Mr Johnson was grasping for.

The mayor is due to meet Mrs Clinton, who is expected to run for president in 2016, in New York on Wednesday for talks expected to focus on foreign policy.

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Boris Johnson once compared Hillary Clinton to 'a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital'

Democratic Party possibilities for 2016 (clockwise from top left): former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Vice President Joe Biden; former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. Ethan Miller, Mandel Ngan, Patrick Smith, Mark Wilson, Chip Somodevilla (2)/Getty Images hide caption

Democratic Party possibilities for 2016 (clockwise from top left): former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Vice President Joe Biden; former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.

There may not be any officially declared candidates for president yet, but prominent Republicans from Jeb Bush to Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are making big speeches and jostling for consultants and donors. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton may not formally announce whether she is running for months. But any number of polls would indicate, without even declaring, she has a lock on the Democratic nomination.

Which got me thinking who are the other potential Democratic candidates?

This may not be an obvious place to start, but I figured why not ask the opposition? America Rising PAC is a Republican group that exists to dig up dirt on Democrats. And it's on the lookout for presidential candidates to target.

"It really is tough," says Tim Miller, the PAC's executive director. He says each quarter the staff have a meeting where they sit down and basically ask themselves, "Who other than Hillary Clinton should we be researching?"

"And that list of strong candidates after Hillary is so small as to be potentially nobody."

To test the theory, I went to downtown Chicago hotbed of Democratic politics to ask people whom they expect to run for president. Here are some of the responses I got:

April Williams, sighing: "The only one I can think of is Hillary Clinton. That's about it."

Martha O'Connor: "Honestly, to be honest with you, Hillary is kind of the only person that pops into my mind."

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In Likely Democratic Primary, Who's Joining Hillary Clinton?

David Brock on Monday abruptly resigned from the board of the super PAC Priorities USA Action, revealing rifts that threaten the big-money juggernaut being built to support Hillary Clintons expected presidential campaign.

In a resignation letter obtained by POLITICO, Brock, a close Clinton ally, accused Priorities officials of planting an orchestrated political hit job against his own pro-Clinton groups, American Bridge and Media Matters.

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Those groups along with another pro-Clinton group, the super PAC Ready for Hillary had their fundraising practices called into question last week by a New York Times report. It pointed out that veteran Democratic fundraiser Mary Pat Bonner got a 12.5 percent commission on funds she raised for Brocks groups and a smaller percentage commission on cash she raised for Ready for Hillary.

In his letter to the co-chairs of Priorities board former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina Brock alleged that current and former Priorities officials were behind this specious and malicious attack on the integrity of these critical organizations.

The letter and Brocks resignation offer a rare glimpse into a network of groups upon which Democrats are relying to keep the White House and stave off increasingly robust big-money efforts on the right. The public airing of dirty laundry comes as sources say Priorities is struggling to live up to the hopes of some Clinton allies, who had argued it should aim to raise as much as $500 million to eviscerate prospective Clinton rivals in the primary and general elections.

Brock, who spent his early career in Washington as a self-described right-wing hit man before experiencing a political awakening and emerging as the leader of an empire of hard-hitting liberal attack groups, contends in his letter that Priorities is trying to damage his groups fundraising efforts, while presumably enhancing Priorities own. Frankly, this is the kind of dirty trick Ive witnessed in the right-wing and would not tolerate then. Our Democratic Presidential nominee deserves better than people who would risk the next election and our countrys future for their own personal agendas.

Brock did not respond to requests for comment about the letter, his groups relationship with Bonner or with the other big-money groups boosting Clinton.

Craig Smith, a senior adviser to Ready for Hillary, said his group is still working with Bonner, as well as with Priorities and Brocks groups. We have worked with them for almost two years. We continue to work with them. We all do very different things, so theres not a lot of overlap.

Asked whether he thought rivals on the left were circulating negative information on Bonner, he said, I would hope not. Not that Im aware of.

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Brock resigns from Hillary Clinton PAC

David Axelrod, President Obama's former senior adviser, is offering Hillary Clinton some strategic advice for her potential 2016 presidential bid.

Clinton shouldn't try to "run away" from the president, Axelrod said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

As "we saw in the midterms, that's not a good strategy," he said. He also said that Clinton needs to "define herself and where she wants to take the country in the future."

The former secretary of state's relationship with Mr. Obama has had its "peaks and valleys," Axelrod said. But, he concluded, their evolving relationship ultimately became one of the great stories of the Obama administration.

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Political strategist and longtime Obama adviser David Axelrod joins CBSN and weighs in on the 2016 presidential race.

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As a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod was right in the thick of some of the thorniest, most important, most controversial ...

When asked about the president's demeanor since the Democrats' major midterm losses, Axelrod said that while the Obama administration may have been presumed politically dead, the president has "had the best run he's had in years since." He suggested that the president has shifted his attitude, realizing he's got two years left in office. He noted that Mr. Obama has "a bounce in his step that I haven't seen in a very long time."

Axelrod also admitted to what he calls "a mistake that I take some responsibility for." As the administration scrambled to contain the financial crisis during their first months in office, Axelrod says he regrets using the president as too much of "an announcer for the government instead of the narrator of a larger theme."

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David Axelrod offers Hillary Clinton some 2016 advice