Nov 21, 2014 8:01pm
(Molly Riley/AP Photo)
NEW YORK Two-hundred prominent Democratic strategists, former Clinton aides and donors, joined forces today for a day-long strategy meeting hosted by the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary to coalesce their efforts, plot and plan for when and if Hillary Clinton runs for president.
The meeting, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the Clintons hold their annual Clinton Global Initiative summit, was made up of a series of closed-to-the-media strategizing panels and marked the beginning of the end of Ready for Hillary, which plans to shut down its operations once Clinton announces a run.
It also marked a turning point for Clintons potential 2016 campaign.
Although nobody today would flat out say it (hypotheticals like if and hope preceded all statements about her candidacy), the general sentiment among the panelists and attendees was: Shes running. And when she does, her supporters said, they will be ready.
Hopes run high, Marty Chavez, the former Albuquerque mayor and a senior adviser for Ready for Hillary, told reporters. The biggest takeaway I have is there are a lot of people who have her back if she says yes.
The attendees at the event included Correct the Records David Brock and Burns Strider, who were invited guests to last weekends 10th anniversary event forthe Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as political strategists Harold Ickes, James Carville and Paul Begala. Two people who have been mentioned as possible campaign managers for Clinton,Stephanie Shriock, the head of EMILYs List,and Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, also were there.
Hillary Clinton herself was not at the event. Super PAC rules would not allow her to go.
Very little was said about other possible Democratic presidential candidates, such as former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who just this week became the first candidate to throw his hat in to the ring. The panelists said they saw Hillary Clinton as the most formidable candidate and that any concerns were not about a Hillary Clinton problem, but rather a problem for the Democratic Party, as a whole.
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Top Hillary Clinton Supporters Gather to Plot, Strategize