Hillary Clinton Gives It a Shot

The next presidential elections are still far off, but actually not that far. In fact, in one year from now the rush of the primary races will commence the selection of candidates. Among Democrats, even if it is not yet official, there is already someone getting ready for the challenge: Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and secretary of state (during Obama’s first term).

Hillary is engaged in what the American press commonly calls the “shadow campaign,” an electoral campaign led in the dark. As Time [magazine] pointed out, the ”Ready for Hillary” super PAC (i.e. the organization raising money for Hillary Clinton’s potential second shot at the conquest of the White House) has taken hold of the mailing list of the people who supported the former first lady in 2008 — millions of email addresses and contacts with which the 2014 campaign should begin. All these contacts will be added to the ones already obtained by other groups that precipitated Obama’s second presidential victory in 2012 and the [names from] EMILY’s List* used in the two presidential campaigns by [Hillary’s] husband Bill Clinton. As reported by Politico.com, “Priorities U.S.A.,” the super PAC that played a key role in Obama’s re-election, is considering lending support to Hillary, which would involve more backers than there were for the current president.

Although her candidacy is not official yet, it is not a secret for anyone that Hillary has been thinking about entering the race for some time — at least since last summer, when a group of trusted advisers gathered in her house in Washington, D.C. to evaluate her different options [and negotiate the process of acquiring] the necessary funds, state by state, to be able to beat her adversaries on the way to the White House. Because one thing is certain: it takes money to win the election — a lot of money. Also necessary is a wise machine that can organize the manner in which to spend it most usefully. Her official announcement is not expected to arrive before the midterm elections next November — unless a new potential Democratic leader, perhaps young and brilliant, shows up on the national political scene. In other words, not current Vice President Joe Biden (at 72 years old), who keeps traveling to Iowa (where the primary elections traditionally begin) to show that he intends to run for election.

There is one signal that Hillary is serious. As reported by Maurizio Molinari in La Stampa, there are two big shots who worked on Obama’s campaign who are ready to join forces with her: Jim Messina, the manager of Obama’s re-election campaign (already on Hillary’s team), and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks Animation, who is among Obama’s major fundraisers and now promises to become the “catalyst for other Democratic donors.” Then, in the shadows (but not really), we have Bill Clinton, who would not shy away from a return to the White House — this time as “first mister.”

*Editor’s note: EMILY’s List is a political action committee (PAC) that, according to Wikipedia, “aims to help elect pro-choice Democratic female candidates to office.” It is an acronym that stands for “Early Money Is Like Yeast.”