By Dan Merica, CNN
updated 8:37 AM EST, Thu January 1, 2015
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- As Democrats close to Hillary Clinton recover from their New Year's Eve celebrations and flip their calendar to 2015, many will notice a seemingly unimportant date is fast approaching.
For months, pro-Clinton Democrats have pointed to early January -- particularly Jan. 15 -- as a symbolic date for Clinton's presidential aspirations. In conversations with one another and at strategy sessions about a possible 2016 run, former aides and confidants have quietly said that if Clinton doesn't say "no" to running by the start of 2015, she is a go for 2016.
"If she hasn't said 'no' by January, it will be a sign she is running," said one longtime Clinton friend at last month's Ready for Hillary strategy session in New York.
The early January time frame is regularly used by Clinton supporters as a way to put off directly answering the will she/won't she questions posed by reporters. While the date itself is not totally significant, it has become a shorthand for early January. With that time frame now approaching, some in Clinton's orbit are admitting that time is running out for Clinton to say "no."
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"If she is not going to do it, she can't let it drag on after January 15," said a Democratic strategist close to Clinton. "If she hasn't said something after that date, people should assume she is running."
The strategist, who said this was the general sense among people close to Clinton, added, "She has two weeks to say she isn't running."
Link:
Hillary Clinton's point of no return