There have been lots of folks close to Hillary Clinton talking with the press in the last month about when Clinton will finally announce her candidacy to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. There was speculation that it would happen in April of 2016, but within the last week, sources have been saying it would happen sometime in the summer of 2015. They basically said there was no rush for her to announce, everything was great, blah, blah, blah.
Well it looks like there really is trouble in Hillaryland and it though it's not "starting to look a lot like Christmas," it is starting to look a lot like 2008.
The first problem is Clinton's fundraising - it's being described as weak by some but actually it sucks. Clinton's main super PAC, Priorities, USA, is having major difficulties in reaching its goal of raising five hundred million dollars. The PAC has been scouring their contacts list trying to find 30 individuals who would pledge one million dollars a piece, and whose identities would be disclosed when Clinton makes her big announcement. But so far the PAC has only been able to obtain ten commitments.
What is is interesting is that apparently the PAC is encountering all sorts of resistance from high dollar donors who have already contributed to other aligned super PACS. But what is really interesting is the fact that some of this money is getting sucked up from the high dollar donors via the Clinton Foundation.
Priorities USA is looking to get others on board to assist with fundraising for the PAC like Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe or investment banker Tom Nides, who served under Hillary Clinton at the State Department, according to sources. But one has to wonder why individuals like McAuliffe and Nides aren't already on board.
Priorities, USA has been working to reinvent itself sine the 2012 election, has been rocked internally by disagreements over its mission, fundraising strategy, etc., according to interviews that were done with 12 Democratic donors/operatives who have been working to lay the groundwork for Clinton's expected candidacy. But based on all the internal problems going on within Priorities, it sounds like Mark Penn is back at the helm, making this current blow up very reminiscent of the problems with Clinton's 2008 campaign.
Priorities occasionally has clashed behind the scenes with other groups working toward the same goal. The tensions spilled out into public view Monday, when Clinton ally David Brock quit the Priorities board amid accusations it was trying to boost its own fundraising by undercutting that of two pro-Clinton groups he runs.
While Brock said late Monday he was “open to returning” after Priorities pledged to address his concerns, it’s Priorities itself that some Clintonites are concerned about.
“People are starting to worry that Priorities could be a weak link,” said a strategist who has worked with the various pro-Clinton outside groups.
The stumbles — and the slow fundraising start — raise doubts about a key assumption about Clinton’s strength as a presidential candidate: that her allies will be able to rely on a seemingly bottomless well of support from rich supporters to build an historic political money juggernaut that will overwhelm prospective rivals.
Over the past two years, the two super PACs that have been most active paving the way for an expected Clinton campaign — Brock’s American Bridge 21st Century and Ready for Hillary — raised a combined $29 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
All of these problems with Priorities fund raising problems and the friction between the PAC's supporting HRC and the accompanying fallout from Brock's resignation is pointing to one clear problem we all need to understand - perhaps the Bill and Hillary Clinton Industrial Complex simply cannot raise the cash needed to support the Clinton Foundation and a presidential run by Hillary Clinton.
And the Clinton Foundation this week said it had raised all but $2 million of an aggressive $250 million fundraising drive for an endowment it had hoped to complete before any campaign kickoff, at which point the Clinton's themselves likely would have to withdraw from foundation activities.
Meanwhile, there’s been an internal debate raging about how much exactly the PAC will need to the network overseen by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, which intends to spend at least $889 million in the 2016 cycle.
Some Clinton allies argue that Priorities must raise as much as $500 million — a major increase from the $300 million goal floated by insiders late last year — while others privately worry that figure is out of reach, even for the Clintons. For perspective, the super PAC supporting Republican Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign raised $154 million, while the Karl Rove-conceived Crossroads advertising groups spent $325 million during that cycle.
Priorities is hampered by the absence of a Clinton campaign organization, say people familiar with its early efforts. They expect fundraising to spike once Clinton declares her candidacy, but that might not come until July, which is one reason Priorities began seeking pledged donations. The group’s co-Chair Jennifer Granholm, Executive Director Buffy Wicks and Finance Director Diana Rogalle are among those soliciting pledges for Priorities.
Many donors have begged off solicitations until Clinton formally announces, with some saying they have recently given to other groups associated with the Clintons.
Who are these insiders and why can't they come up with a realistic number that they need to raise and have the ability to raise? You have to wonder - has Clinton made a big mistake by not establishing her own campaign earlier rather than relying on a couple of PACS to get things going?
Clearly, there are too many groups out there trying to raise money for all things Clinton - they are all competing against each other for cash but in the process, dangerous rifts are appearing. But clearly, there are a lot of big dollar donors who are tapped out for the Clinton's and it's a dangerous sign for Clinton in a campaign that seems spread too thin:
Los Angeles television producer Marcy Carsey and Boston philanthropist Barbara Lee this year turned down requests from Granholm to pledge seven figures to Priorities, according to sources, despite both having written recent large checks to other Clinton-related endeavors. Carsey had given a significant sum to the Clinton Foundation, as well as $275,000 in the last two years to EMILY’s List and Ready for Hillary, while Lee has given at least $875,000 in that span to Ready for Hillary, EMILY’s List and Brock’s American Bridge.
So, it seems like there are major problems going on internally between Clinton's campaign and the Clinton Foundation. Money is at the root of these problems - there is simply not enough money to fund both the campaign and the Clinton Foundation. And we should all be alarmed by this.
Clearly, at this stage, Hillaryland isn't Ready for Hillary.
Stay tuned as the drama unfolds.
http://www.politico.com/...
And here is the article that discusses in more detail the issues with David Brock.
http://www.politico.com/...