Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive!
Does this iconic Superman intro also describe the state of Hillary’s non-campaign campaign for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2016? Perhaps, but with so much news and media slobbering to report, barf bags, “tucked into the seat pocket in front of you,” may be needed to help PJM readers get through it all.
Let’s first start with the “mouth of the south,” that Ragin’ Cajun, James Carville.
He is billed as a “longtime confident of the Clinton family” in today’s Washington Post piece announcing the shocking news that Carville is “supporting the super PAC devoted to luring Hillary Clinton into the 2016 presidential race.”
The operative word here is luring. Gee, just how much luring is this endeavor going to take? Now before you answer that question consider this – Ready for Hillary is the name of the PAC doing the “luring.”
As Carville is getting Hillary “ready” for “luring,” let’s turn our attention to Hillary Watch 2013. Oh, my mistake! What I meant to write was, let’s turn our attention to the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election taking place November 5th.
This bellwether race features another “longtime confident” (the longtime banker of Clinton-land) Terry McAuliffe.
Look for McAuliffe’s photo in the dictionary next to the definition of political operative, lobbyist extraordinaire, wealthy businessman, power-broker, fundraising king and former Democratic National Committee Chairman. He was also co-chairman of Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign and chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
McAuliffe is taking another shot at becoming Governor of Virginia in 2013 after losing the Democrat primary in 2009. (Virginia has an open gubernatorial race every four years because the governor is limited to only one four-year term.)
For this 2013 race, McAuliffe managed to scare away all the potential primary opposition with his clout and personal Brinks trucks full of cash. Thus becoming the Democratic candidate by default.
As one would expect from Terry McAuliffe, he is using his perch as the Democrat candidate to raise money and support with the theme, “send me money and secure your slot in the 2016 Hillary campaign hierarchy.”
Read how Ken Vogel at Politico reported the situation:
HILLARY CLINTON’S FIRST TEST
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign begins this year in Virginia.
She hasn’t said anything about 2016, but Terry McAuliffe’s 2013 gubernatorial campaign is serving as a testing ground for Clinton’s clout, operatives and donors In fact, McAuliffe and some of his top allies have suggested to big donors and consultants that supporting his campaign is a way to get in on the ground floor of Hillary 2016, several donors and operatives told POLITICO.
Reaching for that barf bag yet? Hold on, because it only gets worse if you are a Republican who thinks the GOP has any shot of winning the White House in 2016.
On April 25th, Hillary will be giving her first paid speech, guaranteed to garner massive media attention the night before the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Hillary will be attending the opening along with that guy she is married too. So, do you think there will be any media coverage speculating about whether Hillary is ready to join that exclusive men’s club of presidents gathering for the ribbon cutting?
If you are a follower of Hillary Watch 2016, you know my theory about that great, unstoppable, social/media movement afoot in the mainstream media to elect the first female President of the United States. This movement is akin to the first African-American president social/media movement in 2008 that propelled our current Oval Office occupant into office. (In 2008, that movement was slightly stronger in the media than the female movement.)
Perfect examples of this movement in action are these headlines from Newsweek/Daily Beast:
Better Than Ever…Hillary’s Back!!
And her return should strike fear in the hearts of Republicans everywhere.
She’s back. And it seems like she never left at all.
Be afraid GOP: Hillary is back and she will beat you in 2016.
And this one:
Are Republicans really going to try to damage Hillary Clinton by digging up old non-scandals no one even remembers? They’ll do damage, all right, says Michael Tomasky, but not to Clinton.
In fact, Newsweek/Daily Beast has become the house organ for Hillary in 2016. My reasoning is that Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown, who is British, greatly desires to be Hillary’s Ambassador to Great Britain. (Meow, meow goes the cat.)
Now, just posted today are two more Hillary media happenings worth mentioning.
First, news that Hillary has inked a book deal. Here is my favorite part of this report from AP Newsbreak:
The book has yet to be titled and is tentatively scheduled for June 2014, in time for the summer reading season and for the midterm elections, when a promotional tour could easily blend with Democratic efforts work to recapture the House. The former secretary of state’s itinerary will be closely scrutinized for any signs she may run for president in 2016 — any book tour events in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina would receive broad attention.
Just how much broad attention would her June, 2014 “book tour events in early voting states” actually receive? The modern age has yet to invent words that fully describe the phrase, “broad attention.”
Finally in Politico, is a piece chronicling all the clues any sleuth should look for when determining if Hillary is planning a presidential run in 2016.
But here is one CLUE not mentioned in Politico today — Hillary will announce in the library with Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum. So many clues, so much mystery!
This latest Hillary Watch 2016 installment concludes with the same old question I plan on asking from now until 2016:
“How do any of our current crop of 2016 GOP candidates ultimately win 270 electoral votes?”
And, unfortunately as you know by now, I have not a clue.
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