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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."

"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."

The reason is simple: Clinton has, so far, sucked up all the oxygen in the Democrats' 2016 conversation. If she lets that continue well into 2015 and then decides to back out, she puts her party -- which already has a thin bench of second tier candidates -- in a tough position.

While chatter about former Sen. Jim Webb, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden have bubbled up throughout late 2014, neither have caught fire in the polls. The latest CNN/ORC poll finds Webb at a paltry 1%, Warren in second place with 9% support and Biden in third at 8%. Hillary Clinton, by comparison, is at 66% support.

Because of the uncertainty around her announcement date, groups urging Clinton to run intend to continue their work well into 2015. Ready for Hillary, the grassroots super PAC organizing on Clinton's behalf, has events planned well into March but plans to close shop once Clinton announces. Groups like Correct the Record, a communications and research shop, and Priorities USA, a fundraising and ad buying outfit, have both pledged to ramp up in early 2015.

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Friend: 'If she hasn't said 'no' by January, it will be a sign she is running'