Subject: Correct The Record Sunday September 28, 2014 Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 15:18:06 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Sunday September 28, 2014 Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*Clinton Foundation: “Statement from President and Secretary Clinton”
<https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/statement-president-and-secretary-clinton>*

“We are blessed, grateful, and so happy to be the grandparents of a
beautiful girl, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, born on Friday evening,
September 26, 2014.”

*Associated Press: “New Mom Chelsea Clinton Celebrates Baby Daughter”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f7cbef6fe17b47c5b5a367f9d9e431d0/chelsea-clinton-gives-birth-baby-girl>*

“Bill Clinton canceled a fundraising visit Saturday to Denver for Democrats
running for the Senate and governor, but he called in to an event for
embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to deliver his 11-minute speech by
speakerphone.”

*New York Daily News: “Bill, Hillary Clinton beam while leaving Lenox
Hospital after birth of new granddaughter”
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bill-hillary-clinton-beam-leaving-lenox-hospital-birth-new-granddaughter-article-1.1955473>*

“Bill beamed as he walked down the steps of the hospital with a suitcase in
tow Saturday night. He did not say anything but gave a big smile and a
friendly wave before entering a GMC van, wearing a gray sport coat, jeans
and Nikes. Hillary was wearing a gray sweater, beads and black leggings,
while a woman behind her carried another suitcase.”

*The Hill: “Hillary Clinton puts women's rights at center of her agenda”
<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/219058-hillary-clinton-puts-womens-rights-at-center-of-her-agenda>*

“Eight years after shying away from the historic nature of her campaign,
Hillary Clinton is putting women at the center of her agenda as she
contemplates a second bid to become the nation's first woman president.”

*Associated Press: “Religious Conservatives Opposed To Hillary Clinton”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ad0ff73a334740149032053e8131968f/hillary-clinton-uniting-religious-conservatives>*

“Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting religious conservatives
frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's divided over foreign
policy, immigration and social issues.”

*Salon: “The 1 percent’s twisted new scheme: The Kochs and other
billionaires are determined to buy the White House in 2016”
<http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/the_1_percents_twisted_new_scheme_the_kochs_and_other_billionaires_are_determined_to_buy_the_white_house_in_2016/>*

“Clinton’s accommodationist approach clearly reflects the pragmatic
conclusion that Democrats need abundant resources to fight the conservative
billionaires aligned with the Republican Party.”

*Articles:*

*Clinton Foundation: “Statement from President and Secretary Clinton”
<https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/statement-president-and-secretary-clinton>*

[Statement]

September 27, 2014

We are blessed, grateful, and so happy to be the grandparents of a
beautiful girl, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, born on Friday evening,
September 26, 2014.

We are thrilled to be with our daughter and her husband as they welcome
their daughter into the world.

Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride.  Charlotte's life
is off to a good start.

*Associated Press: “New Mom Chelsea Clinton Celebrates Baby Daughter”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f7cbef6fe17b47c5b5a367f9d9e431d0/chelsea-clinton-gives-birth-baby-girl>*

By Ken Thomas

September 27, 2014, 7:13 p.m. EDT

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton say they are "blessed, grateful, and so happy" to become
grandparents.

Their daughter, Chelsea, gave birth Friday night to her first child,
Charlotte.

Chelsea Clinton announced the news on Twitter and Facebook early Saturday,
saying she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are "full of love, awe and gratitude
as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky."

The former president and first lady said in the statement on Saturday,
"Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life
is off to a good start."

The baby was born at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where the
Mezvinskys live. No other details of her birth were released by the family.

The news comes as Hillary Clinton deliberates whether to run for the White
House in 2016. She is the leading Democratic contender to succeed President
Barack Obama, her 2008 campaign rival, and has said she expects to make a
decision around the beginning of next year.

The baby has been eagerly anticipated. Hillary Clinton has called the
prospect of becoming a grandmother her "most exciting title yet." She even
has picked out the first book she intends to read to her grandchild, the
classic "Goodnight Moon."

She has said she didn't want to make any decisions about another campaign
until the baby's arrival, pointing to her interest in enjoying becoming a
grandmother for the first time.

Bill Clinton canceled a fundraising visit Saturday to Denver for Democrats
running for the Senate and governor, but he called in to an event for
embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to deliver his 11-minute speech by
speakerphone.

"I hope I get an excused absence," he told the crowd. "You all know my
family just got a little bigger, and I figured I should stay home where I'm
really needed."

Clinton has been eager to become a grandfather. During an event with former
President George W. Bush in September, Clinton's cellphone rang on stage
and he joked that only two people had the number "and they are related to
me," musing that he hoped he wasn't becoming "a premature grandfather."

"Every day I get up and I say, 'You have to remember whose child this is.
Do not interfere. Be there when you are welcome. Be loving but not
judgmental," Clinton said to laughs in an interview with CNN at his annual
Clinton Global Initiative, only days before the baby's arrival.

The 34-year-old Chelsea Clinton said in an interview with Glamour magazine
last year that she and her husband had hoped to make 2014 "the year of the
baby." She announced her pregnancy in April at the end of a forum in New
York on female empowerment.

"I just hope I will be as good a mom to my child and, hopefully, children
as my mom was to me," she said at the time.

Even in her late stage of pregnancy, the younger Clinton helped preside
over the family's annual conference last week, conducting interviews on
stage and announcing efforts to promote community service and stop the
killing of elephants and trafficking of ivory. An advocate for elephants,
she warned her child "could grow up in a planet without elephants."

Chelsea Clinton grew up in the public eye as a teenager in the White House,
later graduating from Stanford and Columbia universities. She worked in
finance in New York and in public health, earning a doctorate from Oxford
University.

She serves as vice chair of her family's foundation, which was renamed the
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and helps direct the
organization's humanitarian and philanthropic efforts around the globe. She
recently departed NBC News, where she served as a special correspondent.

The new parents, who married in 2010, were friends as teenagers in
Washington and both attended Stanford. Mezvinsky is a hedge fund manager
and the son of former Reps. Majorie Margolies of Pennsylvania and Edward
Mezvinsky of Iowa, longtime friends of the Clintons.

*New York Daily News: “Bill, Hillary Clinton beam while leaving Lenox
Hospital after birth of new granddaughter”
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bill-hillary-clinton-beam-leaving-lenox-hospital-birth-new-granddaughter-article-1.1955473>*

By Celeste Katz, Corinne Lestch, and Ginger Adams Otis

September 27, 2014, 11:12 p.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] In a statement released Saturday, President Bill Clinton and
Hillary Clinton said they are 'blessed, grateful and so happy to be the
grandparents of a beautiful girl,' named Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.

The grandparents of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton's newborn girl
are bursting with pride.

In a statement released Saturday, President Bill Clinton and Hillary
Clinton said they are "blessed, grateful and so happy to be the
grandparents of a beautiful girl," named Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.

"We are thrilled to be with our daughter and her husband as they welcome
their daughter into the world," the statement read. "Chelsea is well and
glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good
start."

Chelsea Clinton, 34, and her husband Marc Mezvinsky, 36, happily announced
the birth of their healthy baby girl to the world just aftermidnight
Saturday.

“Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth
of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky,” the contented new mom wrote
on her Twitter feed.

A Clinton spokesman said Charlotte was born earlier Friday. The new bundle
of joy was born at Lenox Hill Hospital. Further details weren’t immediately
available.

The birth was timely for grandparents Bill and Hillary Clinton, who both
shared the joyous news on their own Twitter accounts. The former president
canceled a fundraising appearance in Denver Saturday with Sen. Mark Udall
(D-Colo.), the Associated Press reported.

Bill beamed as he walked down the steps of the hospital with a suitcase in
tow Saturday night. He did not say anything but gave a big smile and a
friendly wave before entering a GMC van, wearing a gray sport coat, jeans
and Nikes. Hillary was wearing a gray sweater, beads and black leggings,
while a woman behind her carried another suitcase.

Along with media maven Katie Couric and designer Vera Wang, those who
offered best wishes to the happy couple included the Rev. Al Sharpton, who
said he sent an email to Chelsea congratulating her.

"I've known Chelsea since they were in the White House," Sharpton said
Saturday, adding he's not friends with the former First Daughter but knows
her from his gig on MSNBC and her short-lived tenure at the parent company.
"I'm happy for her. I wish her and the baby well."

The Clinton family had just wrapped up the annual Clinton Global Initiative
in Manhattan this week.

Bill and Hillary had both joked they were on “babywatch” the whole time —
and hoped the gridlock caused by the United Nations summit wouldn’t cause
problems for their expectant daughter if she went into labor.

Chelsea and husband Marc had kept the baby’s gender a secret from everybody
— including themselves. They announced the pregnancy in April.

Congratulations poured for the young couple — with one fan already dubbing
Charlotte the future first granddaughter.

“Charlotte will be 2 years old when Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in
2016!!” tweeted Brian Joel in North Carolina.

*The Hill: “Hillary Clinton puts women's rights at center of her agenda”
<http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/219058-hillary-clinton-puts-womens-rights-at-center-of-her-agenda>*

By Amie Parnes

September 27, 2014, 12:28 p.m. EDT

Eight years after shying away from the historic nature of her campaign,
Hillary Clinton is putting women at the center of her agenda as she
contemplates a second bid to become the nation's first woman president.

In recent weeks, Clinton has trumpeted equal pay for women in speeches and
panel discussions across the country.

She has also called for a “movement” to help women at work, arguing that
women face not only a “glass ceiling” but a floor that could collapse
underneath them, erasing the gains made to win equality between the sexes.

And this week, she announced a new $600 million effort through the Clinton
Global Initiative to help disadvantaged girls attend secondary school.

The effort suggests that if she runs for president, Clinton has decided to
take the opposite tack from 2008, when top strategists such as Mark Penn
suggested she not emphasize the issue during her first White House bid.

In the post-mortem of that campaign, Clinton aides saw the failure to
embrace the historic nature of her bid as a fatal mistake that contributed
to her loss in the Democratic primary.

Even worse, they witnessed Barack Obama’s campaign use the fact that voters
would be electing the first black president to its advantage, making the
electorate feel a part of bringing about a “change” movement.

“The fact that it didn’t happen last time is indicative of everything that
went wrong,” said one longtime Hillary ally who worked on the 2008
campaign. “Now, she’s being more true to herself, doing what she’s always
done and always believed. It’s not about Mark Penn writing a policy memo.”

Internal memos leaked to The Atlantic after the 2008 campaign show Penn
wanted to portray Clinton in the mold of Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady”
and former prime minister of the United Kingdom.

He wanted to cast her as a strong leader regardless of gender, and sought
to play down the fact that she was a woman.

Of voters, he wrote in one memo: “They do not want someone who would be the
first mama, especially in this kind of world. But there is a yearning for a
kind of tough single parent — someone who can combine the toughness they
are used to with the negotiating adeptness they believe a woman would bring
to the office.

“They are open to the first father being a woman,” he wrote.

Clinton allies argue the strategy came unnaturally to Clinton, who has long
championed women and children issues.

“Hillary Clinton believes that equal opportunity and success for women and
girls builds a better future for all, and that’s why she led efforts to
study and improve education opportunities for girls so they have a chance
for a brighter future,” said Adrienne Elrod, the communications director
for Correct the Record, the pro-Hillary super-PAC.

When it comes to 2016, there are a number of reasons to think Clinton
should embrace running as the possible first woman president if she makes
another White House bid.

Democrats have spent much of the last eight years solidifying their
standing with women voters. Obama benefitted from a gender gap in voting in
both of his general election victories, and Democrats was able to keep
their Senate majority in 2010 and 2012 in large part because of support
from female voters.

“Democrats are banking, as they did in 2012, on the gender gap,” said
Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University.

She argued that Clinton is seizing on issues that Democrats in general have
realized “are winners for them.”

“These women’s issues are great fundraising talking points for Democrats in
terms of getting women’s groups and individual women to donate to
campaigns," Jellison said.

It could also be easier for Clinton to embrace running as the first woman
president when she will not be running against someone set to become the
first black president. The historic nature of Obama’s run for the White
House in 2008 shadowed the entire campaign.

This time around, Republicans say Clinton is simply looking for a base of
support with her embrace of women. And they don’t think it will work.

 “The problem is that, while women do feel that there is some inequality
that needs to be addressed they are not necessarily a group that feels in
need of a "champion" in the same way that the black community rallied
around President Obama or that the anti-Wall Street crowd has rallied
around [Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth] Warren,” said Katie Packer
Gage, the former deputy campaign manager on the 2012 Mitt Romney
presidential campaign who now works at Burning Glass Consulting, a
political consulting firm that focuses on messaging to women. “And women
have not shown a history of rallying to a candidate based on gender.”

“I understand their strategy,” Packer Gage added. “And there isn’t really
an alternative path for them.”

Jellison, however, says that Clinton undoubtedly realizes that one of the
most powerful moments in her 2008 campaign was her concession speech to
Obama.

“Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling
this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it,” Clinton
said at the time, bringing tears to the eyes of many supporters who
gathered at the storied National Building Museum.

Jellison and close Clinton allies predict that the line could resurface in
other forms during a 2016 race. Even the super-PAC Ready for Hillary is
already running with the cracks in the glass ceiling theme, releasing a
logo of sorts ahead of Clinton’s much-anticipated appearance earlier this
month in Iowa.

Asked how Clinton would address her historic role this time around, one
former aide said,  “I hope the answer is, ‘directly.’

“She has to,” the former aide said. “Look what she did at the building
museum. What was so striking about that was her whole riff. I don’t know
how you don’t have a direct, strong message about women going forward after
that moment.”

And Clinton allies argue that embracing women’s issues comes naturally to
Clinton.

Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser to Ready for Hillary who worked on the 2008
campaign, said that, “at every turn Hillary Clinton demonstrates that the
advancement of the rights and opportunities for women and girls is central
to who she is.

“This isn't a side issue, this isn't a one-off,” Sefl said. “As she says,
this is 'our great unfinished business.'”

*Associated Press: “Religious Conservatives Opposed To Hillary Clinton”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ad0ff73a334740149032053e8131968f/hillary-clinton-uniting-religious-conservatives>*

By Ken Thomas and Steve Peoples

September 27, 2014, 10:36 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting
religious conservatives frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's
divided over foreign policy, immigration and social issues.

The prospect of another Clinton White House stirred anguish at the Values
Voter Summit this weekend where hundreds of conservative activists debated
the GOP's future and warned that the acknowledged but unannounced 2016
Democratic front-runner would cement what they see as President Barack
Obama's attack on religious freedom.

"Never forget she will be Barack Obama's third and fourth term as
president," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an unsuccessful GOP
presidential candidate in 2012, said Friday night.

She was among the high-profile Republicans, including past and prospective
White House contenders, at the annual conference attended by some of the
most prominent social conservatives and hosted by the Family Research
Council, well known for its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

This year's gathering expanded its focus to religious freedom — or the
persecution of Christians and their values at home and abroad. It was a
message that GOP officials hope will help unify a fractured party and
appeal to new voters ahead of November's elections and the next
presidential contest.

But it was Clinton's name that was as much a rallying cry as the theme of
religious liberty.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a prospective presidential candidate, challenged
Clinton to "come and debate" Denver nuns who run nursing homes for the
poor, called the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. The nuns
have challenged the Obama health law's requirement that some
religious-affiliated organizations provide insurance that includes birth
control.

"She can do that and she can explain why we should be fighting nuns," Cruz
told 750 social conservatives at a banquet in Des Moines on Saturday night,
after saying much the same at the Washington gathering. Many in the Iowa
crowd burst into laughter at Cruz's comment.

In Washington, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a once and perhaps
future contender, described Clinton as "tenacious."

"She's got all the skills and would be an incredibly formidable candidate,"
Huckabee told reporters, suggesting that Clinton is politically vulnerable.
"She's got to go out and defend Barack Obama and her record in the first
four years she was secretary of state."

Clinton would be the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic
presidential nomination, while the GOP's field is large and lacks a clear
front-runner. Two GOP establishment favorites, New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, were not invited to the Values
Voter meeting.

As he did last year, Cruz won the meeting's symbolic presidential
preference straw poll with 25 percent of the vote, followed by conservative
firebrand Ben Carson and Huckabee. Clinton earned one vote among more than
900 cast, although Family Research Council president Tony Perkins joked
that even Mickey Mouse would have gotten a vote if listed on the ballot.

He said religious liberty "slipped as a priority" under Clinton's
leadership at the State Department as she pursued a liberal agenda "in
complete contrast to what values voters care about."

"She's going to have a more difficult time this go around than she did last
time," Perkins said.

A CNN poll this summer found that four different would-be Republican
candidates earned between 10 percent and 15 percent of support from
self-identified conservatives: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Kentucky Sen. Rand
Paul, Cruz and Huckabee. The same poll found that 73 percent of
conservatives said Clinton doesn't generally agree with them on issues they
care about.

"I think the hype will be, 'Let's elect the first woman president,'" said
Tina Henold, who was at the conference and has home-schooled her three
children in Toledo, Ohio, for 24 years. "We need to get away from hype and
get more substance."

Like many others at the gathering, Henold said Clinton's history and her
handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, in
which four Americans were killed, would hurt her chances.

Republicans contend that Obama and Clinton, as secretary of state, misled
the public about the nature of the attack and could have saved lives if
they had quickly mobilized the U.S. military.

"Mrs. Clinton, you're not going to get a free ride on this," said Gary
Bauer, founder of the Campaign for Working Families and a presidential
candidate in 2000. "You can't implement the policies and then run as if you
were opposed to the policies. We're going to call you out."

Democrats have branded a special House panel investigating Benghazi as a
right-wing effort to harm a potential Clinton presidential campaign. They
reject notions that U.S. forces were ordered to "stand down" during the
attack or that Clinton played a direct role in security decisions.

Lillian Kjellman, a freshman at Liberty University who attended the
conference, said there was too much controversy surrounding Clinton and
questioned whether she could to present a fresh message to the public after
more than two decades in the public eye.

"I don't think she could win," she said.

*Salon: “The 1 percent’s twisted new scheme: The Kochs and other
billionaires are determined to buy the White House in 2016”
<http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/the_1_percents_twisted_new_scheme_the_kochs_and_other_billionaires_are_determined_to_buy_the_white_house_in_2016/>*

By Darrell M. West

September 28, 2014, 11:00 a.m. EDT

[Excerpted from “Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust” by Darrell
M. West (Brookings Institution Press, September 2014). Reprinted with
permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.]

[Subtitle:] Kochs and co. learned their lessons from Obama v. Romney, and
can't wait to apply them in 2016. Here's the strategy

The answer to the question of whether rich people can buy elections is
“Sometimes, but not always.” President Obama won reelection despite the
massive amounts spent to defeat him by conservative business leaders. He
beat back their spending by having a weak opponent who was seen by voters
as pro-rich and out of touch. Mitt Romney lacked the personal skills to
connect with voters and persuade them that he cared about the middle class.

Clearly, then, money is not the only thing that decides election campaigns.
Public opinion, media coverage, campaign strategies, and policy positions
matter as well. During a time of rising campaign costs and limited public
engagement in the political process, money sets the agenda, affects how the
campaign develops, and shapes how particular people and policy problems get
defined. It takes skilled candidates, considerable media coverage, and
strong organizational efforts to offset the power of great wealth.

There are no guarantees that future Democratic candidates will replicate
Obama’s 2012 electoral success. The conservative financiers involved then
regard the money that they spent that year as the initial down payment on a
long-term investment, even if it did not immediately pay off. After the
general election, Sheldon Adelson announced that he planned to “double” his
investment in future races. “I happen to be in a unique business where
winning and losing is the basis of the entire business. So I don’t cry when
I lose. There’s always a new hand coming up. I know in the long run we’re
going to win.” Marc Short, one of the strategists behind the political
activities of Charles and David Koch, echoed that thought: “Our members are
committed to the long term, not to one individual cycle.”

In preparation for the long-term battle, these billionaires already have
altered their campaign approach to maximize the odds of winning. After
studying what went wrong with the 2012 campaign, individuals such as
Adelson are aiming for a different kind of GOP nominee. According to
Adelson’s friend Victor Chaltiel, “he doesn’t want a crazy extremist to be
the nominee. He wants someone who has the chance to win the election, who
is reasonable in his positions, who has convictions but is not totally
crazy.” Meanwhile, Republican National Committee member Shawl Steel said
that Adelson has learned from the 2012 defeat: “The candidate will have to
have a strong resume—no sudden lightning-new guy—will have to build a
formidable fundraising apparatus and really be emotionally tethered to
bringing in middle-class Latinos, Asian Pacifics, Jews and blacks like
never before.”

Understanding the importance of the top conservative billionaires, GOP
strategist and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that
one of the most important elements in the 2016 presidential campaign would
be who would win the “Sheldon Primary.” Referring to the super-wealthy
benefactor, Fleischer noted that “anybody running for the Republican
nomination would want to have Sheldon at his side.” The same is true for
Charles and David Koch. With their abundant resources, grassroots network,
and willingness to spend to influence elections, their role in the GOP is
of utmost importance. And like Adelson, they have sought to learn from 2012
and develop new electoral strategies. From their perspective, it is crucial
to adapt to the political environment and alter public outreach strategies.
James Davis of Freedom Partners, a Koch-financed group, said donors must
test and refine their message: “Being in the field and testing during the
slower periods, and in smaller areas, allows you to refine strategy and
tactics so that you can make the larger investments with confidence.”

For the 2014 midterm elections, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is focusing
on field operations and broadcasting ads that employ moving personal
stories to deliver policy messages. Central to their approach is the idea
that Obamacare is a failure and is hurting ordinary patients. “Too often,
we did kind of broader statistical ads or messages, and we decided that we
needed to start telling the story of how the liberals’ policies, whether
it’s the administration or Congress, are practically impacting the lives of
Americans every day,” explained Tim Phillips, the president of AFP. Media
expert Elizabeth Wilner of Kantar Media/CMAG noted that those kinds of ads
have a greater likelihood of electoral success. “Ads that tell stories are
more compelling than ads that don’t,” she said. “And ads that use
sympathetic figures are more compelling, generally, than those that don’t.”

With ads that have greater impact, a stronger field operation, and better
candidates, conservative billionaires are likely to have greater success in
the future. Worried about that possibility, Democrats have countered with a
“running against the billionaires” strategy. This is a tactic that was used
successfully by Barack Obama in his re-election bid. He tied his GOP
opponent Mitt Romney to billionaires such as Sheldon Adelson and the Koch
brothers, who were spending hundreds of millions against him. Obama
appealed to basic fairness and argued that a candidate backed by the mega
rich would not fight for the middle class and help ordinary people.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has copied this approach for
the 2014 elections. In a series of speeches on the Senate floor, he
bemoaned the unfairness of tycoons and the millions that they are spending
to defeat vulnerable Democrats in key swing states. Reid decried the
radical agenda “that benefits billionaires at the expense of the middle
class.” Continuing, he said that “the oil baron Koch brothers are very good
at protecting and growing their prodigious future and fortune. There’s
nothing un-American about that. But what is un-American is when shadowy
billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to
benefit themselves and the wealthiest one percent.”

Democratic senators under attack by Americans for Prosperity ads costing
millions of dollars responded with their own ads directly targeting the
Koch brothers. One spot broadcast by Alaska

Democratic senator Mark Begich complained about a local oil refinery shut
down by Koch Industries: “They come into town, buy our refinery, and just
run it into the ground, leaving a mess. A lot of Alaskans are losing jobs,
and I’m definitely concerned about the drinking water. I don’t go down and
tell them what to do; I expect them not to come up to Alaska and tell us
what to do.”

Upset with these personal attacks, Charles Koch penned an article in the
Wall Street Journal entitled “I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society,” in
which he decried “collectivists [who] engage character assassination.” He
said that his companies employ 60,000 Americans and that his workers have
won “over 700 awards for environmental, health, and safety excellence.”
Continuing his self-defense, he said that “far from trying to rig the
system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors,
including mandates, subsidies, and protective tariffs—even when we benefit
from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the
rich and powerful and should be abolished.”

Irritated that Reid was focusing on the Kochs, Senate minority leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that he “wondered why he left out billionaire
Tom Steyer, who plans to spend as much as $100 million pushing the issue of
climate change in the 2014 election and appears positioned to rival the
deep-pocketed Koch brothers.”

Democrats face interesting strategic decisions with respect to
billionaires. For more populist-leaning candidates, the preferred approach
is to attack billionaires, complain about unfairness, and criticize the
lack of transparency in their electioneering activities. Other Democrats,
though, have chosen a different tack. They have embraced liberal
billionaires rather than running against billionaires as a general class.
Their thinking is that “if you can’t beat them, you should join them.”

An example of that alternative comes from Democrats loosely aligned with
Hillary Clinton. Thinking ahead to a possible presidential campaign in
2016, her super PAC, Ready for Hillary, has signed up George Soros as
co-chair of its national finance council. In contrast to his aloofness from
Obama in 2012, Soros agreed to assist the group laying the groundwork for
her campaign three full years before the election. Michael Vachon, the
political director for\ the billionaire, explained Soros’s early action by
saying that “his support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his
long-held belief in the power of grass-roots organizing.” The Clinton super
PAC also has received contributions from billionaire Alice Walton, one of
the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of
Salesforce, along with a number of other wealthy individuals. Mrs.
Clinton’s family foundation is working with billionaire Tom Steyer on an
early childhood development project.

Clinton’s accommodationist approach clearly reflects the pragmatic
conclusion that Democrats need abundant resources to fight the conservative
billionaires aligned with the Republican Party. In light of recent Supreme
Court decisions opening up the big money spigot, Democrats appear to
believe that they must join the arms race that now characterizes U.S.
campaign finance. However, that approach comes with some pitfalls. In
cozying up to billionaires, Clinton and her supporters risk alienating the
populist wing of her own party and turning off voters still stewing over
the Wall Street interests that they think brought down the American economy
during the financial collapse. If she goes too far with this strategy, she
risks facing a progressive backlash during the nominating process.

The unresolved political question is how this party division over
billionaires plays out. Dividing billionaires into warring factions may be
the best hope for Democrats. But that choice means that Democrats should
downplay the populist rhetoric and embrace pro-growth policies. They would
have to quit talking about raising taxes on the rich and endorse actions
that broaden social and economic opportunity.

Even if Democrats run against conservative billionaires, they are likely to
embrace moderate and liberal ones in both 2014 and 2016. The 2016 election
will be a multibillion dollar battle for the future of America, and
Democrats cannot compete without having ultrarich supporters willing to
spend tens of millions on their behalf. It matters considerably to
democracy as a whole how Democrats resolve this strategic and policy issue.
The outcome of future elections depends in good part on whether 2016
becomes the year of conservative billionaires, liberal ones, libertarian
tycoons, or a diverse set of billionaires across the political spectrum.

*Calendar:*

*Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official
schedule.*

·  September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton headlines fundraiser for DCCC
for NY and NJ candidates (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-new-york-fundraiser-110902.html?hp=r4>
)

·  September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton headlines another fundraiser
for DCCC (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-headline-dccc-fundraiser-110764.html?hp=l8_b1>
)

·  September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton meets Indian Prime Minister
Modi (Zee News
<http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/no-modi-sharif-meeting-in-new-york-mea_1474656.html>
)

·  September 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton keynotes Congressional
Hispanic Caucus Institute, Inc., conference (CHCI
<http://www.chci.org/news/pub/former-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-to-address-leadership-luncheon-at-public-policy-conference>
)

·  September 30 – Potomac, MD: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Maryland
gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown (WaPo
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hillary-clinton-to-headline-fundraiser-for-maryland-gubernatorial-hopeful-brown/2014/09/19/3e9b4aea-4057-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html>
)

·  September 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton fundraises for New Hampshire
state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester (New Hampshire Journal
<http://nhjournal.com/hillary-clinton-to-host-dc-reception-for-long-time-friend-dallesandro/>
)

·  October 2 – Miami Beach, FL: Sec. Clinton keynotes the real estate CREW
Network Convention & Marketplace (CREW Network
<http://events.crewnetwork.org/2014convention/>)

 ·  October 2 – Miami, FL: Sec. Clinton signs “Hard Choices” at Books and
Books (HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/miami_book_signing>)

 ·  October 2 – Miami, FL: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Charlie Crist (
Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-charlie-crist-campaign-florida-111229.html>
)

·  October 6 – Ottawa, Canada: Sec. Clinton speaks at Canada 2020 event (Ottawa
Citizen
<http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/hillary-clinton-speaking-in-ottawa-oct-6>
)

·  October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton and Sen. Reid fundraise for the
Reid Nevada Fund (Ralston Reports
<http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/hillary-raise-money-state-democrats-reid-next-month>
)

·  October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation
Annual Dinner (UNLV
<http://www.unlv.edu/event/unlv-foundation-annual-dinner?delta=0>)

·  October 14 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes
salesforce.com Dreamforce
conference (salesforce.com
<http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/highlights.jsp#tuesday>)

·  October 28 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House
Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/hillary-clinton-nancy-pelosi-110387.html?hp=r7>
)

 ·  December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts
Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>)