'Ready for Hillary' ready to end when Clinton announces 2016 decision
Ready for Hillary, the super-PAC that launched in late 2012 to urge Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, is coming to an end, Politico reports.
Founded by former Hillary Clinton staffer Adam Parkhomenko, the grass-roots group will wind down when the former secretary of state announces her decision — which most expect to be a declaration of her candidacy — early next year.
The super-PAC has been described by some as a "shadow operation" for Clinton's would-be campaign — a characterization its creators dismiss.
“The goal of this organization has always been clear — Ready for Hillary has an explicit mission and a stated path to accomplish it,” Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser to the group, told Politico. “Now, there are several million people who can take pride in — and rightly claim credit for — the progress made. Ready for Hillary isn’t done, but we’re still very grateful for the opportunity to reflect on where we are and what all of these supporters have helped build.”
That includes hiring a staff of 29, recruiting 35,000 volunteers, raising more than $10 million in donations and merchandise sales, attracting more than 3 million Facebook fans and building an enhanced voter list comprising Clinton's legions of supporters — all of which will be given to her campaign, should she decide to run.
Either way, the Ready for Hillary super-PAC will be a case study in political brand-building in the face of an increasingly unpopular president.
“I’ve always looked at Hillary as a brand,” Parkhomenko told Slate last year. “That’s been especially true in the last couple of years. It’s a brand I believe in. It’s a brand I want to protect. It’s a brand I want to build.”
Clinton, who lost in the 2008 Democratic primary, insists she hasn't decided whether she'll seek the nomination again in 2016.
"You have to be a little bit crazy to run for president,” Clinton said earlier this year. “You have to be so totally immersed and so convinced that you can bring something to that office.”
But many believe her candidacy — and eventual nomination — is inevitable.
A poll conducted last month by the Des Moines Register found Clinton would have a huge head start in Iowa, with 53 percent of Iowans who plan to particpate in the 2016 Democratic caucuses saying she'd be their first choice. That's more than five times the support received by her nearest competitor, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who got 10 percent.
And 76 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers view Clinton favorably — or 15 points higher than any of her potential Democratic challengers.
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