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Hillary Clinton's former communications director says the double standard in the current crop of 2020 candidates is easy to spot.

The men, such as Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigeig, are compared to the likes of John and Bobby Kennedy, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.

The women, meanwhile, have only one barometer: Hillary Clinton.

Female candidates "are just in a different place because they can't remind us of a leader who we've seen before," said Jennifer Palmieri, who worked for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and also inside the Bill Clinton White House.

"I don't think that means that the women can't break out later," she added.

Palmieri will be in Charleston on Tuesday promoting her 2018 book "Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World." She will appear at Blue Bicycle Books, 420 King St., at 5:30 p.m.

Palmieri has been a key player in modern politics for the past two decades. Her resume includes White House communications director for Obama.

She was also national press secretary for the Democratic Party and press secretary for John Edwards' 2004 White House run.

When the 2020 race started, the early storyline emphasized the fact that so many women were in the Democratic field.

That has since been overcome by polling trends that puts white men out front.

The trend is consistent in South Carolina, where Joe Biden is preferred by 46 percent of likely S.C. Democratic primary voters, up 14 points from a month ago, according to a Post and Courier-Change Research poll released Sunday.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is in second at 15 percent, with California Sen. Kamala Harris following at 10 percent.

The struggle in the current atmosphere, Palmieri said, is there still is a novelty among some in seeing women stepping up and seeking power positions.

"At the root of that is these women are doing something different, something we haven't seen before," she said.

That doesn't mean people won't support women candidates, she said, "it just means that we carry these biases ... these models in our head of what leaders look and sound like."

The Hillary Clinton comparison is more often to their detriment, Palmieri said, and that it is often followed by the question "Is she electable?"

With more than 20 Democrats in the race, Palmieri said the race is still pretty open since voters are not ready to make their decisions this early.

"We're still in the prelims," she said. "The dynamics of this race have yet to reveal themselves fully."

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 843-937-5551. Follow him on Twitter at @skropf47.

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Hillary Clinton mocked the conclusions found by special counsel Mueller during an interview on MSNBC. MSNBC

Hillary Clintonsays she has been telling candidates seeking the 2020 Democratic nominationthat even if they run a perfect campaign, the election could be "stolen" from them, implying that was what befell her in 2016.

Clinton said Saturday that shehasbeen pouring over special counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report on the Russian government's "sweeping and systematic" interference in the 2016 election and that she fears the same tactics will be "alive and well" in 2020.

"You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you," she said to cheers on the Los Angeles stop of her "Evening with the Clintons" tour with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

During the tour's stop Friday in Seattle, Clinton pointed to FBI Director Christopher Wray's warning last month that Russia continues to pose a"very significant counterintelligence threat" and that efforts to influence U.S. elections with"social media, fake news" and "propaganda" has "continued pretty much unabated."

"There is no effort to try to have an organized national response to that," Clinton said."Social media is still an incredible channel to communicate information that is untrue and defamatory about someone else."

Clinton said Americans need to "make sure that the election is not interfered with in that 'sweeping and systemic' way that Mueller found it was in the prior election" and how to "protect our candidates from that."

She also cautioned that Trump's ability to draw the news media's attention will present a"real dilemma" for the eventual Democratic nominee.

"Because Trump took up so much of the oxygen if I said one thing about Trump in a speech and then 30 minutes of something about jobs, the one thing I said would be what would be covered," Clinton said of the dynamic in 2016.

"The press could not give up theiraddiction to waiting to see what Trump would do next."

The former first lady, secretary of state and New York senator also said Saturday that Trump can be defeated despite a roaring economy that features the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, stock indices near record highs and solid growth in the gross domestic product.

"It is the economy, it's always the economy, but that's not the only reason that we should elect a president, or in this case retire one," Clinton said, according to CNN.

"Yes, maybe the economy is still pumping along, but all of a sudden you've got tens of millions of Americans who are much less secure because their health care is gone," she said, referring to the Trump administration's effort to have the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional.

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Cheers erupted as Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the "heartbeat" abortion bill. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON Progressives heavily criticized the signing of a Georgia bill that would make it illegal to receive an abortion after a heartbeat was detected in the womb, about six weeks into a pregnancy. Georgia lawmakers had passed the bill in April, but it did not become law until Governor Brian Kemp signed it on Monday.

The bill, which does not take effect until Jan. 1, 2020, will one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country. Current Georgia state law allows abortions up until the 20th week of pregnancy.

Progressives slammed the bill on social media.

"Most of the men writing these bills don't know the first thing about a woman's body outside of the things they want from it. It's relatively common for a woman to have a late period + not be pregnant," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter.

"This is a backdoor ban,"she continued, arguing that a potential abortion ban at six weeks of pregnancy would be equivalent to being two weeks late on a period meaning that "this law ignores basic biology."

Hillary Clinton also weighed in, saying that "six-week abortion bans are effectively total bans on abortion, as many women don't know they are pregnant at six weeks."

Democrats and abortion rights activists are likely to challenge the bill in court, challenging it on grounds that it violates Roe v. Wade.

State Rep. Ed Setzler, a Republican from the Atlanta suburbs who authored the bill, said the law is about protecting the human rightsof unborn children.

"This bill is scientifically sound, legally sound, it passes the common sense test," Setzler said Tuesday.

Contributing:Nicquel Terry Ellis

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Stopping short of calling for immediate impeachment proceedings, Hillary Clinton Tuesday said special counsel Robert Mueller's report is only the beginning of a reckoning on election meddling. (April 23) AP, AP

WASHINGTON Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Democrats to proceed with caution when it comes to the possibility of impeaching President Donald Trump in the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Clinton, the former Democratic nominee who ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential race, wrote that Mueller's findings detailed an assault on the U.S. and a "serious crime against the American people" but said it'sfoolish to believe Democrats only have two choices on how to hold President Donald Trump accountable:immediately impeach or do nothing.

"Obviously, this is personal for me, and some may say that Im not the right messenger. But my perspective is not just that of a former candidate and target of the Russian plot," Clinton wrote, touching on private emails stolen from her and the Democratic Party during the 2016 election by Russians. "Our election was corrupted, our democracy assaulted, our sovereignty and security violated."

She goes on to describe her experience as the first lady during impeachment proceedings aimed at her husband, President Bill Clinton, her experience as an attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings against President Richard Nixon and as a senator in New York during the 9/11 terror attacks.

More: After months clamoring for Mueller's findings, Congress weighs what's next. First, a subpoena for everything

More: Trump thought Mueller would 'end' his presidency and other takeaways from the Mueller report

More: GOP Sen. Mitt Romney: 'I am sickened' over Trump's conduct revealed in Mueller report

Clinton wrote it wouldn't be wise to rush into impeaching Trump and instead, Democrats in the Houseshould focus on holding "substantive hearings that build on the Mueller report and fill in its gaps" while also focusing on key issues that affect Americans across the country. She suggested that Congress could create a bipartisan commission to examine ways to protect U.S. elections from foreign actors.

"What our country needs now is clear-eyed patriotism, not reflexive partisanship," Clinton wrote, noting what went right and wrong during previousimpeachment proceedings against President Clinton and President Nixon.

Mueller reported across 448 pages about"sweeping and systematic" Russian effortsto benefit Trump in the 2016 election and campaign aides eager for the help, though itultimately found no conspiracy between Americans and Russians. Mueller also foundTrump tried repeatedly to thwart the inquiry but declined to decide whether that was a crime. Attorney General William Barr and others in the Justice Department later said there wasn't enough evidence for obstruction-of-justice charges.

The redacted version of the Mueller report is now available from the attorney general. Here are the key takeaways from it. USA TODAY

Since the release of Mueller's report, Democrats have latched onto its findings to explain their rationale for continuing their investigations and some have debated whether the report should be used to start impeachment proceedings. Leaders in the House have expressed a similar notion of proceeding with caution due to the divisiveness of impeachment and what effects it could have on the country.

More: Here are the 2020 candidates who want President Trump impeached

Clinton wrote that Mueller's report was a "road map" and, "its up to members of both parties to see where that road map leads to the eventual filing of articles of impeachment, or not."

While urging caution, Clinton said it's important that both Russia and Trump is held accountable for the behavior outlined in Mueller's report, which she called a "warning about the future." She wrote that if that doesn't happen, Russia along with other foreign actors would likely attempt to meddle in future elections.

And when it comes to Trump, Clinton alleged that, "unless hes held accountable, the president may show even more disregard for the laws of the land and the obligations of his office. He will likely redouble his efforts to advance Putins agenda, including rolling back sanctions, weakening NATO and undermining the European Union."

"A crime was committed against all Americans, and all Americans should demand action and accountability," Clinton wrote. "Our founders envisioned the danger we face today and designed a system to meet it. Now its up to us to prove the wisdom of our Constitution, the resilience of our democracy and the strength of our nation."

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Contributing: Bart Jansen

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Hillary Clinton: Move cautiously on Trump impeachment

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a hero or criminal, depending on who you ask.We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

Hillary Clinton among the high-profile targets of WikiLeaks' explosive document drops over the yearstold a New York crowd Thursday that Julian Assange must "answer for what he has done" after his Thursday arrest.

London police arrested Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks,on Thursday, the same day the Justice Department released anindictment alleging Assange conspired with ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal classified government documents.

"The bottom line is he has to answer for what he has done," said Clinton, who said she would "wait and see what happens." The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee sharedthe Beacon Theater stage withher husband, former President Bill Clinton.

More: Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, had a litany of legal issues before London arrest

More: Journalist or criminal: Julian Assange, notorious for leaks of US secrets, faces computer hack charge

More: Six big leaks from Julian Assange's WikiLeaks over the years

She stressed the charge against Assange, who faces a count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, shouldn't be seen as an affront to journalism. Assange's supporters often defendhis publication of private message and secret government documents in the name of journalism. Others, however, such as the U.S. government, consider him a criminal.

It is clear from the indictment that came out, its not about punishing journalism," Clintonsaid. "Its about assisting the hacking of the military computer to steal information fromthe United States government.

WikiLeaks exposed parts of Clinton's presidential campaign, including potential running mates, when in 2016 it released 2,000 emails from her campaign manager John Podesta. U.S. intelligence later determined the messages were stolen by hackers working for the Russian government.

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Clinton also got in a jab at President Donald Trump, saying, "I do think its a little ironic that (Assange) may be the only foreigner that this administration would welcome to the United States."

Contributing: Associated Press

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