Hillary Clinton Gets Ready with A Big Team-in-Waiting for Presidential Race Campaign

Hillary Clinton, widely considered as the Democratic nominee for the Presidency race of 2016 has quietly put together a massive campaign team-in-waiting. Interestingly, this is before any official announcement has been made on her candidature. In terms of the size and talent of Clinton team, reports say that it can outstrip anything that is on the rival Republican side.

The Washington Post reports that Clinton has already appointed a campaign chairman, campaign manager, chief strategist and lead pollster, associate pollster, lead media adviser, communication director, deputy communications director, focus group director and communications strategist. The report also added that Clinton is close to finalising her New York City campaign headquarters and looking for a suitable date to make these official announcements.

White House senior adviser John Podesta is reportedly heading the recruitment of Clinton’s team. But the final decision is vetted by Clinton herself. Though Clinton faces no competition for Democratic campaign talent, she has told senior advisers that the legal framework of the campaign needs to be in place by this spring.

The report says that the advanced planning of the campaign team is also a sign that Clinton will be the official Democratic nominee, who will run in support of a sitting president and his agenda. Clinton has already hired many former aides of President Obama to assist her in the campaign.

Key Obama Aide

Jim Messina, who was with Mr Obama during his campaign and engineered Clinton’s downfall in 2008, is the head of super Political Action Committee devoted to supporting her in 2016. “It’s her turn and her time,” he said on MSNBC and added “we’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure she’s the president of the United States.”

Thus the political machinery that helped in the victory of Mr Obama twice, has thrown its weight behind Clinton candidacy. While Podesta is advising Clinton unofficially, he may soon take up the post of campaign chairman and has announced the decision to leave the White House within a few weeks. White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri will be donning the role of communication head in the Clinton campaign.

Clinton’s close advisers are also looking at ways to keep her in a fighting mode throughout the slow and uneventful early phase of the campaign. There will also be a strategy to distance herself from Mr Obama regime by focusing more on populist and base-friendly economic issues despite her association with Mr Obama administration as a former secretary of state. Clinton is keen to project her foreign policy to be more self-assured than that of Mr Obama.

Sander’s Challenge

Meanwhile, Hill News reports that Senator Bernie Sanders can be a challenger to Clinton in the primarry. He has claimed that voters will see stark differences between himself and Hillary Clinton if the two decide to run for the White House in 2016.

Sanders told on MSNBC’s “Up with Steve Kornacki” that though he likes and respects Hillary Clinton, on issues like massive investments in infrastructure, real tax reform and “on the need to deal in a very bold way with the planetary crisis of climate change, with the transpacific partnership, I suspect we will have some real differences.”

Sanders is mulling to enter the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. If Sanders runs, he will be highlighting the goals of the progressive wing of the party, which wants bold policies to address the rising income inequality in the United States.

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