Is Hillary Fundraising for the Primary and the General?
by Pamela LeaveyHillary Clinton announced this morning that she was forming an exploratory committee for her bid for the Democratic nomination in ‘08, setting “off rounds of e-mail and conference calls among both her allies and opponents, some of whom were shaking their heads that a major political event was happening at 9:30 on a Saturday morning.”
Advisers to some of her top 2008 rivals – Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts – replied within minutes to requests for comment, and signaled that the Clinton announcement meant that the 2008 race was truly underway.
It appears the Saturday morning announcement was smart move, she’s got everyone’s attention already… and the hype is burgeoning:
Already the question has surfaced, is Hillary Clinton fundraising already for both the primary and the general election? Hotline On Call seems to think she is…
Look closely at Sen. Clinton’s exploratory committee website, and you’ll discover that she’s asking for contributions as high as $4200 from individuals.
What does that mean?
Because the limit on individual contributions is $2100 per election, it means that Clinton is raising money for two accounts — her primary account and a general election account.
In other words — Clinton becomes the first candidate to officially acknowledge that she won’t accept federal matching funds for either the primary and the general election.
It will be interesting to see if other potential candidates will follow in her footsteps. I must say it’s smart move to fill the coffers.
Dem Daily readers who are not in the Hillary camp may want to consider taking a moment to pony up for JK and let him know we’re waiting patiently…
UPDATE: The NY Times speculates that “Clinton jumped into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, immediately squaring off against Senator Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic field in what is effectively the party’s first primary, the competition for campaign donations.”
Amid the speculation from the Times is who is and isn’t giving and what that could mean for Clinton and Obama. It’s all speculation at this point, some of donors listed are know to court mulitple primary candidates in effort to hedge their bets, as the LA Times noted on Friday.
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Hillary’s In, But Can She Win?
And, so it’s official… Hillary Clinton is in. This morning she announced via her website and by email, that “she will establish a presidential exploratory committee, launching a 2008 campaign that could make her the first female pres…
Hillary is going to be one tough cookie to beat, throw in John Edwards, Obama,Joe Biden Bill Richardson and soon Wesley Clark, you have alot of star power in the race. Here is the 10 million dollar question, is there still room for JK ??? If so when does he make his move?
Good question johng.
I think it will be soon… he just said that the other day.
So much excitement…I can’t wait to see how all this shakes out. While we may have what seems to be the glamour & glitz going on, we know things get serious when it comes down to ballot box time. Thankfully, our party has such credible candidates but as one of the commentators said on MSNBC today…there is room for a #4 in this (Obama, Clinton & Edwards fest)…and he said if Kerry wants to get in there, he better do it really soon.
Kerry – there is a place for you & we all know as always you can slowly but surely move to the top of the pack. As the reality of this war and this time in our country gets deeper into the conscience of Americans – they will be looking for the Real Deal and realize what they missed out on in ‘04.
So Ms. Hillary thinks she has it all sewn up! raising money for the general as well as the primaries.
Well, all I have to say is, “the bigger they are the harder they fall”.
My vote and my dedication goes to Senator Kerry.
Thanks for the suggestion to give a contribution to him. I did just that.
Kerry, 2008!
Thanks, Pamela,
for the thoughtful suggestion regarding a JK donation. I did my part and blessed it with love. Yes, I’m waiting patiently and planning my strategy soon as we receive the word!
Pamela
I read over at DU a few days ago that JK’s staffers said he would make a decision at spring training time. “Wikipedia” says the games begin March 1st for majority of the teams.
Any more official word on that timing?
Spring Training starts Feb 15th, I sure hope its before that
Dotti,
Spring training starts about the 15th of February, give or take.
Obama announces his decision to run on 2/10.
My guess is we’ll hear from JK between now and February 10th. Maybe by the end of January? The sooner the better.
On another note, Friends of John Kerry called me today – of course I donated.
Thanks to everyone who donated to JK today!
Good to hear Friends of JK was making calls today, too. Let’s keep up the momentum!
A few points:
First, the polls: the latest national polls show only one reality:
-Hillary is the frontrunner, something she has been since 2005,
- After that, both the latest ABC and Gallup polls (the two only recent ones) tell us the same thing: there are 4 candidates that could be the anti-Hillary. Obama and Edwards, both declared candidates, are slightly ahead in the polls (though surprisingly not that much for Edwards, given the MOE of these polls). Gore and Kerry both are still close behind, which, considering Gore is not running and Kerry is rarely quoted by the media for any other reasons than for mocking him, is quite remarkable.
http://www.pollingreport.com/WH08dem.htm
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/postabc_poll_clinton_giuliani.html
(I know that the Zogby slightly before that is really bad, but the sample is so small that I tend to ignore it).
However, I hope that he will decide soon, because very soon, the field will focus and it may become too late.
Thanks everyone for the updates.
Run, John, Run. “Home Run” (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) for sure!
I completely disagree that he should jump in now. The very very best thing from his supporters now is patience. I think he should distance himself from these losers, and make a dramatic entrance all his own. He is the real star. Everyone knows it.
It’s hard to imagine, but when he announces, the game will be his. The longer the wait, the sweeter the moment.
Let me add as well that as soon as Kerry and his money making magic come onstage, the other donors won’t be so generous. No one wants to throw money on a loser. It will all unfold.
This is one of my favorite subjects so let me also say….
There is no way in the world Kerry would miss this opportunity. So it’s happening.
When it does, everyone will go wild like they always do when it comes to John Kerry. The blogosphere will light up like a firecracker as everyone starts the hysterical thing they do like trained monkeys, including the screaming negative. This is just fine. It will take the entire spotlight away from the others. The negative will help the whole thing as it progresses. They would rather complain about Kerry than support those goons. All good. Then his countrywide supporters will surface. Many people have not forgotten their experiences with Kerry live.
The other thing is that the swiftboating of JK has already been done. It’s just starting with the others. They can’t attack his service again, and what else do they have? He’s been forged through the fires and he’s ready. So is this country.
You think he may be letting the others duke it out? They have so much media hype that One of them may end up fizzling out.
Interesting thought Indie, letting the others run over each other a bit so that he can be a welcome calm. I have a feeling the shooting star that may be fading the fastest will most likely be Edwards. While I feel Edwards is a very sincere & compassionate candidate, I think Kerry may be taking his spot in the top tier.
Mass
I saw that poll. Interesting. Not much unlike 4 years ago honestly.
Teresa
All good points and another good point also noted by Indie.
There’s news out here in CA that both parties support moving the CA primary up to Feb 5. If that is the case, there’s no time to waste honestly. CA is huge state with a lot of diversity and a lot of money. Candidates traditionally don’t spend a lot of time here, but this could seriously change the landscape. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
I agree it will all unfold, and no doubt JK is sitting back right now enjoying the show.
Saw that last poll Mass, it included Al Gore? Gore has to be interested – I don’t see that happening right now.
But you are right, JK needs to jump in sooner rather than later to be the fourth person in the candidate quartet.
Blue W
I don’t see Gore doing it and never have. I think it’s good to let the resident lay out his agenda in the SOTU and then come out swinging, although it won’t be about the resident this time out. However, it will be about who does and does not support the resident’s agenda from the other side after the SOTU. That’s an important factor in laying out a plan.
So Hillary decided to jump in and according to the msm Obama and Edwards forced her hand. yeah right. Hill knew stupid was going to make his last state speech and she wanted to show him up. Dubya’s 08 state speech wont count cause nobody will be listening to him.
I heard some one say that in 08 global warming will be a big issue.
If that is true then and out of all of those currently running none of them has any decent credibility where the environment is concerned. Kerry and Gore are the 2 big hitters on the dems side.
At first I was wondering when JK was going to announce and thinking he better get out there. But Indie makes a great point I bet he is letting them duke it out for a while and if that’s the case then hillary’s latest stunt was bad timing indeed.
They are already trying to link Obama with radical islamist, Edwards with his house deal this is the second time he’s had to deal with a minor embarrasment remember the wal-mart incident.
Hillary well her and bill’s baggage is in a class by itself.
Hill will be very formidable and I don’t dismiss any of JKs opponents for the simple reasons that the msm will be totally against Kerry,
Dem leadership is trying to push Kerry in the background
Some of the netroots and other are forever trashing kerry and will pick the least capable candidate just to spite Kerry.
I’m a little leery about him waiting too much longer but I do think its a smart move to let the so called superstars duke it out.
pen,
Speaking of bad timing. Not to mention that 21 troops were killed today. Of course, the all three networks led off with Hillary “I’m in” story. Just another sad state of the American press indeed.
21 troops? I had not heard about that all I saw when the TV was on was hillary and I turned the damn thing off.
The msm should have led with the troops but since focusing on hill and not troop deaths helps dubya in a sick way. I doubt bush wants to go into his big speech with a large number of troops causalities.
And you can bet hill will be the topic of all the talk shows where the focus needs to be on the troops.
The dems better wake up and deal with Iraq, afganistan, instead of their superstar or they will face the wrath of voters.
Rove will do his best to set the dems up in the upcoming state speech. Kerry was wise to wait after the SOTUS speech to announce whether he is running or not.
Yes pen, 21 troops killed. It runs from obscene to irresponsible.
As for Hillary and her strategy on Iraq, I hope I didn’t hear this right tonight on the news – She wants to cap the US troops and the current levels AND CUT FUNDING TO THE IRAQI TROOPS?! That can’t be right.
As for JK, I’m guessing he’ll announce a day or 2 after the SOTU. Perhaps it will give him a chance to give rebuttal to the speech.
Blue W
I was thinking the same thing – post the SOTU.
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Bill Richardson Jumps In ‘08 Race
There were murmurings in the news yesterday that Bill Richardson was preparing to make his annoucement to join the ever expanding field for the Democratic nominee. The murmurings were overshadowed by the Hillary hype of the day. Richardson made his an…
Looks like another run by Bubba to me…
HRC has Bubba’s crew who don’t understand their time is past.
I will not vote for Hillary. If I have a choice between a moderate Repub and Hillary, I am going Repub.
Her constant triangulaton-read the wind-look at the tea leaves strategy turns me off.
It wouldn’t be so bad if she made decisions or statements that made sense but she always jumps in late. The only thing she did a decent job is lobbying for Homeland Security aid.
Ken Mehlman really disgusts me. In his debates with the RNC chair, he was hammered every time and then has the audacity to blame Kerry. Mehlman takes credit for the fund-raising, but the many checks I wrote Kerry were due to activity on his blog; not to any back-room parlor games; and certainly had nothing to do with Mehlman.
BTW. 25 troops killed today.
Bring ‘em home now. The chance for them to enforce law and order is long gone. 25K troops = 25k new targets.
Send McCain instead.
battlebob,
You mean McAwful? If so, I agree he sucks. Dean did more for the party in two short years than he ever did in his entire term as DNC chair.
battlebob, I’m with you on everything you said , especially your comment that Bubba’s crew “don’t understand their time is past.”
And, like Indie Liberal, I assume you meant Terry McAuliffe, not Ken Mehlman (who was the RNC chair). Granted, it IS kind of hard to tell them apart : )
Like Indie Liberal, I agree that Dean has done more for the DNC in 2 years than McAuliffe did in his entire term. Dean’s doing a really good job ithere (And I say this as someone who did NOT support Dean in the 2004 primaries)
Hillary’s Bid for ‘08 Signals Demise of Public Financing
On Saturday a few hours after Hillary Clinton made her “I’m in to win” announcement, I noted here on The Democratic Daily that it appeared Hillary was “fundraising already for both the primary and the general election.” M…