Benghazi Bombshell: Fox News Report Sharyl Attkisson #39;s Exclusive
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, reveals the names of two Hillary Clinton confidants at an after-hours Benghazi document review. Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills and deputy assistant secretary...
By: The Daily Signal
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Benghazi Bombshell: Fox News Report Sharyl Attkisson's Exclusive - Video
Hillary Clinton Benghazi documents destroyed
A former State Department official revealed to lawmakers that Hillary Clinton allies secretly removed politically damaging documents before turning over files to the independent board investigating...
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Hillary Clinton Benghazi documents destroyed - Video
If Hillary Clinton decides a few months from now that she does, indeed, want another shot at the White House, her speech to 6,000 Democrats at the annual Harkin Steak Fry Sunday will be revisited as the unofficial kickoff to her 2016 campaign.
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Clinton praised President Obama and rallied Democrats to turn out for the 2014 midterms during her first public event in Iowa since the 2008 pres...
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The former secretary of state during an event in Mexico City discussed the possibility that she'll mount a bid for the 2016 Democratic presidenti...
Whether it was a successful kickoff will be determined by how the Democratic field shapes up - and just how big a challenge the former first lady and secretary of state will face in the state that forever changed the course of her 2008 campaign.
At the final of 37 steak fry fundraisers held by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is retiring, Clinton checked many of the potential-presidential-candidate boxes as she took the stage and announced, "I'm baaaaack!"
She had a nod to the grandchild watch underway for daughter Chelsea, who is expecting a baby, a coy answer on whether she is running in 2016 ("I'm here for the steak," Clinton said), and effusive praise for both Harkin and the handful of statewide and national Democratic candidates gathered at the event.
"If you were a candidate trying to reenter the state where you had had such a bumpy ride last time there's no better way to do it than this," CBS News Political Director John Dickerson said after her speech. "She comes to pay tribute to an icon of the Democratic Party, to cherish its ideals in a public way, while maintaining the patina of not running."
The X factor is just how steep a challenge Clinton will face if she runs again.
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Has Hillary Clinton's road to Iowa redemption begun?
By Perry Bacon Jr.
INDIANAOLA, Iowa- Some Democrats in Iowa and nationally want a very competitive Democratic primary, not one where Hillary Clinton has the overwhelming advantage. For now, that looks unlikely.
With her weekend trip to this early primary state, the ex-secretary of state is sounding more and more like a candidate. And much of the partys apparatus is already rallying around her while also sending an unsubtle signal to Vice-President Biden and other potential contenders that its Clintons turn.
At least 60 congressional Democrats have already said they would back Clinton if she ran, according to a tabulation by The Hill newspaper. Top officials in early primary states, like Attorney General Tom Miller of Iowa, who endorsed John Kerry in 2004 then Obama four years later, say they are strongly leaning towards supporting Clinton now.
There are many more chapters to be written in the amazing life of Hillary Clinton, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said at his annual steak fry on Sunday here, all but endorsing Clinton for president.
Key Democratic operatives are likely to join Clinton as well. Democrats say Jack Sullivan, who was a top Clinton aide in 2008 and at the State Department before serving as Vice President Joe Bidens national security adviser, is expected to work with Clinton, not Biden, in a 2016 campaign. Jeremy Bird, who was the national field director of Obamas 2012 campaign and is one of the partys smartest strategists in mobilizing voters, is already aligned with the group Ready for Hillary.
Biden, Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and ex-Virginia senator Jim Webb are all taking steps towards running in 2016. But the key question is whether they can amass the staff, political support and fundraising to wage a true contest against Clinton, as Obama did in 2008, or will face insurmountable odds from the start, as Biden did in his own campaign six years ago.
Tom Hockensmith, a county supervisor in Des Moines who backed Obama in 2008, said in an interview he wasnt sure who he supported in 2016, adding, I dont know enough about any of the candidates. But he wasnt sure he would ultimately have much of a choice.
I think shes going to be the candidate, he said of Clinton.
In 2006, Obama received a strong reception from Iowans at the annual steak fry, encouraging him to run for president. A few months later, as he launched his campaign, he was able to recruit some of the top operatives in the Democratic Party, match Clinton in fundraising and get endorsements from key figures like Miller.
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Can Anyone Really Challenge Hillary Clinton?
Hillary Clinton is obviously running for president, to the extent that, at this point, it's hardly revelatory to point that out. It's impressive she was able to deliver her speech at the Harkin Steak Fry this weekend in Iowa, given that she must have been winking melodramatically every time she made a joke about her non-candidacy.
"It's true," she said Sunday, and the crowd at the Steak Fry could probably be heard to audibly inhale -- will she say it? Then, I imagine, a big wink: "I am thinking about it!" Loud exhalations and oh-yous ring out over the crowd.
Even Ready For Hillary, the unaffiliated organization run by loyalists to Hillary and the Democratic Party, can barely pretend that she isn't yet officially running. Take this quote from USA Today, about the organization's planned November strategy meeting for its "900-member national finance council." Spokesman Seth Bringman teased, "What better time to come together and show our support right before this decision will be made?"
Well, if that decision were, theoretically, a "no," that would be an absolutely terrible time to fly everyone to New York and instruct them to start wringing money out of people. Bringman, like everyone else, is aware that it isn't a "no." He's winking, too.
But, what if? What if it were a no? What if all of this nudging and winking and campaigning really was this terribly weird way in which Hillary went about making decisions, running full bore just in case, and then pulling the plug?
The primary result would be that a lot of people would be hospitalized withcatatonia. Among those would be the Democratic candidates who either aren't bothering to thinkabout running -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), for example -- and the ones who are clearly thinking about running but can't get any oxygen.
If there were no Hillary 2016, America might have heard of Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), a good-looking guy who's in a band and so on. But as it is, no one has heard of him. Even as I write this, I have to double-check that his name isn't Marvin. (That's not true, but it's close.)
Then there's the whole Ready for Hillary crew. Political campaign professionals live uncomfortable, feast-or-famine lives, working for months on end until a campaign is over, and then often going unemployed until another campaign springs up. Ready for Hillary's key insight was, What if the campaign could start months and months earlier than normal? This hasn't been tried before in part because so few candidates could get enough people to give money to keep hundreds of people employed handing out stickers for two years. Clintoncan. It's a banquet table for consultants that stretches from now until November 2016 -- the sort of job security enjoyed only by tenured college professors and, well, politicians. But what if they're sitting there, nibbling on their 293rd course during this never-ending dinner and they suddenly hear, oh, the kitchen's closed. The answer: catatonia.
Democrats across the country probably wouldn't be hospitalized (not literally), but they wouldn't be happy. The most fun that any political junkie has had in the past decade was watching the 2008 Democratic primary. But Democrats were perfectly happy not to have to do that for two open primaries in a row. If Hillary didn't run, the scramble that ensued would be grotesque, a bloody spectacle worthy of the Caesar. It would be months of panicky how about this guy? speculation. Every failed name of the past 20 years would be mentioned non-ironically. ("Who has Mike Gravel's phone number?") Once Warren and Gillibrand recovered from their catatonia, they'd probably jump in, but what they'd be jumping into would be a complete mess.
Republicans, on the other hand, would dance a 600-hour long jig, just dancing and dancing and clinking champagne flutes. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus would be unavailable for appearances on the Sunday political shows for a while, unless producers wanted a guy who was just going to sit there giggling and clapping. There might be a surge of new entrants in the Republican primary, as well, since the odds of a Republican victory in 2016 would have just gone through the ceiling. (These things change, of course, but that would certainly be the initial reaction.)
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The Fix: Imagine a world where Hillary Clinton didnt run for president in 2016