Clinton advisers strategize without her

As supporters of a presumed Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign strategized and hobnobbed at a midtown hotel Friday, their chosen candidate was nearby - and yet intentionally far away.

The supporters, attending a day-long session organized by the Ready for Hillary super PAC, largely dispensed with the formality that Clinton is not actually a candidate yet. Clinton herself buzzed around other parts of Manhattan being Hillary Rodham Clinton, former secretary of state and former New York senator.

Many of the Ready for Hillary speakers skipped directly to tactics for what they said will be a tough 2016 race for any Democrat - and one that poses particular challenges for Clinton as a universally known commodity and presumed front-runner.

'Inevitability is not a message,' said Terry Shumaker, a longtime Democratic organizer in New Hampshire. 'It's not something you can run on.'

Clinton will need to quickly articulate why she is running and distinguish herself from her own past and the last eight years, several participants in the closed-door session told reporters.

'If she decides to run, she should not run as the third Bill Clinton term or a third Barack Obama term. She should run as a first Hillary Clinton term,' said Craig Smith, a veteran Clinton strategist who has been advising Ready for Hillary.

The all-day pep talk for would-be operatives was laced with caution, less about getting ahead of Clinton's announcement than about getting too confident that she will sail to victory.

Strategist after strategist insisted to reporters that Clinton will have genuine opposition in the Democratic primary, and that the infrastructure building around Clinton has taken to heart the lessons of her failed 2008 campaign. The first potential Democratic challenger, former U.S. senator James Webb of Virginia, announced the formation of an exploratory committee on Thursday.

'I don't think any of us who are supportive of a Clinton candidacy thought this would be a coronation,' said Mitch Stewart, who directed battleground states strategy for then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

Longtime Clinton adviser Harold Ickes said Republicans are likely to capitalize on voters' desire for change after eight years of a Democratic president.

'A tough thematic will be, 'a time for change,' and you can shove a lot under that thematic,' Ickes said.

Speaking to reporters after he briefed potential donors and organizers for a Clinton candidacy, Ickes said he had told the group to prepare for a difficult election with a national electorate that remains roughly split 50-50.

'If [Republicans] put up the right ticket - and they've been known not to - but if they put up the right ticket, it could come down to be very, very hotly contested,' Ickes said he told the meeting.

Stephanie Schriock, president of the women's candidate network Emily's List, agreed that a Democratic candidate will face challenges running to succeed a two-term Democratic president - especially someone as well-known as Clinton.

'History says Americans really don't like to go with the same party for three terms,' Schriock told reporters following her presentation to the donor group. 'It's going to be the candidate who makes the case, and she's going to have to make the case.'

Ready for Hillary has no official ties to Clinton. But the group has amassed a list of roughly 3 million supporters and raised nearly $11 million - including many contributions of $20.16 - in hopes of encouraging her to run.

In addition to Ready for Hillary and Emily's List, other outside groups met in New York this week to plan for a Clinton campaign. The Ready for Hillary event also featured leaders of other pro-Clinton groups, including the Correct the Record research group and Priorities USA Action, a revamped pro-Obama super PAC.

In this awkward middle passage between noncandidate and candidate, Clinton is officially pretending not to notice. She cannot formally coordinate with independent political groups and is keeping her exact plans secret among a very small circle of aides.

Clinton has said she will probably decide on a presidential run in early December and is expected to launch that campaign by mid-February.

She kept her distance from the political events in her name Friday, attending a conference in support of an initiative she championed as secretary of state to promote the use of clean cooking stoves in the developing world. Toxic smoke kills and sickens thousands of people annually, most of them women who carry much of the burden of cooking and finding fuel for traditional open fires, Clinton said.

Clinton was also being honored Friday night at a black-tie dinner for the New York Historical Society. Tickets ranged from $1,000 to $100,000, with top donors earning a seat at the premier 'secretary of state table.'

Several Ready for Hillary participants Friday preached the gospel of early organization and sophisticated voter databases - or as Ickes put it, 'the list, the list, the list, the list, the list.'

Assembling a thick database of supporters was a key goal for the super PAC, and Ickes said much of the infrastructure of Ready for Hillary could fold into an official Clinton campaign.

Planned obsolescence was always the strategy behind the group, and the New York donorfest served as something of a valedictory for an organization that founders said has far surpassed their original goals.

Under federal election rules, super PACs cannot directly coordinate certain kinds of fundraising and other activities with candidates. But Ready for Hillary is making plans to legally make its list available to a Clinton 2016 campaign.

Ready for Hillary will keep running for now, co-founder Adam Parkhomenko said. The group has 21 stops planned for its touring bus over coming weeks and is running what is likely to be a final organizing push for more names and supporters.

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