Subject: Correct The Record Thursday August 7, 2014 Morning Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2014 09:06:12 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

**

*Correct The Record Thursday August 7, 2014 Morning Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*MSNBC: “A silver lining in early attacks on Clinton?”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-silver-lining-early-attacks>*

“‘There’s only one plausible reason why they’re throwing the kitchen sink
against her now — they’re scared. They know if she runs, she wins. And that
involves throwing every piece of oppo research at her now,’ said Adrienne
Elrod of Correct the Record, the rapid response group that has become
Clinton’s main semi-official defender in the press.”

*The Diplomat opinion: Amb. M. Osman Siddique: “The Economics of US Foreign
Policy”
<http://thediplomat.com/2014/08/the-economics-of-us-foreign-policy/>*

“Turning this understanding into action, Secretary Clinton worked
diligently during her tenure at the State Department to strengthen the U.S.
economy and create American jobs.”

*Newsday: “Hillary Rodham Clinton book signing draws fans -- and some
critics -- to Huntington's Book Revue”
<http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/hillary-rodham-clinton-book-signing-draws-many-fans-and-some-critics-to-huntington-bookstore-1.8984231>*

“All of the 1,200 books that the bookstore ordered were sold -- complete
with Clinton's signature on them, said bookstore officials. And as many as
1,000 people snaked around the shelves snapping selfies and pictures of
Clinton as well as the photographers and reporters invited there.”

*New York Daily News blog: Daily Politics: “'Ready For Hillary' dinner
party hitting the Hamptons”
<http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/dinner-party-fundraising-potential-hillary-clinton-presidential-run-coming-hamptons-blog-entry-1.1894594>*

“Actress and activist Ashley Judd is billed as a special guest, alongside
David Brock, founder of the Democratic rapid response team Correct the
Record; and Craig Smith, a senior advisor for Ready for Hillary.”

*Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Hillary Clinton has finally almost passed
Bob Gates in book sales”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/06/hillary-clinton-has-finally-almost-passed-bob-gates-in-book-sales/>*

“One Clinton advisor suggested to Politico that the book be compared to
former defense secretary Bob Gates' book ‘Duty.’ Which we did, and the
comparison wasn't great: ‘Duty’ had outsold ‘Hard Choices’ handily in total
volume, and it wasn't clear when Clinton would catch up. Now it is.”

*Washington Times: “Scaife funeral proves philanthropy trumps politics”
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/6/tyrrell-philanthropy-over-politics/>*

“So if philanthropy can bring together Dick Scaife and Bill Clinton in a
celebration of America, how does one explain the bitter denunciations of
the Brothers Koch, who are at the very pinnacle of philanthropy themselves?”

*MSNBC: “Ready for Warren heads to Iowa”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ready-warren-heads-iowa>*

“Erica Sagrans, the Democratic operative who founded the group, told msnbc
she’s traveling to the Iowa State Fair Thursday, where she and local
volunteers will spend the rest of the week connecting with party officials
and engaging grassroots supporters of the progressive senator.”

*Washington Post: “On the trail in Kentucky, Bill Clinton gets practice
playing second fiddle”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/on-the-trail-in-kentucky-bill-clinton-gets-practice-playing-second-fiddle/2014/08/06/ff589230-1d87-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html>*

"Nearby, a man sells “Hillary Clinton for President” buttons, one for $5 or
three for $10. “Is she running?” a woman asks him. “Man, I hope so,” says a
man wearing a UMW shirt. “If she’s anything like him.” “She has not
declared, but we’ve talked to some people and think she’s very close to
it,” the button-peddler says, stroking his long, brown beard. “Okay, I’ll
take three.”"

*Christian Science Monitor: “Bill Clinton factor: Can he tip Senate race to
topple McConnell? (+video)”
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0806/Bill-Clinton-factor-Can-he-tip-Senate-race-to-topple-McConnell-video>*

“Grimes can be heartened by this: The Clintons went all out for their
friend Terry McAuliffe last year in a nail-biter race for Virginia
governor. Mr. McAuliffe eked out a narrow victory – with a little help from
his friends.”

*Louisville Courier-Journal (K.Y.): “Grimes, Bill Clinton stump in coal
country”
<http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2014/08/06/grimes-bill-clinton-stump-coal-country/13696121/>*

“Clinton also sought to distinguish between Grimes and the administration,
noting Obama has only two more years in office while Grimes is seeking a
six-year term. And he compared her to former Sen. Wendell Ford, who Clinton
said, always voted for Kentucky first, but still worked with presidents he
disagreed with.”

*Articles:*

*MSNBC: “A silver lining in early attacks on Clinton?”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-silver-lining-early-attacks>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

August 7, 2014, 7:00 a.m. EDT

As Hillary Clinton eases into an August pseudo-vacation, she — and the
news-consuming public — may finally get a respite from the mud sling of her
book tour. With non-stop attacks from her opponents and vigorous scrutiny
from the media, the summer often felt like a one-woman presidential
campaign, even though the real thing is more than a year off and Clinton
has not yet said if she’ll be a part of it.

Her opponents scored some blows, and she made a few notable stumbles of her
own, but there could be a silver lining in the exhaustive early drubbing —
her opponents might run out of new attacks to sell to an increasingly bored
public.

Few people have been more scrutinized than the former first lady: Clinton
has been the target of a hostile independent counsel with subpoena power in
the 1990s, Republican opposition researchers during two Senate bids, and
even supporters of fellow Democrat Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign
cycle. The book tour tilled much of what ground remained. It’s hard to find
anything that isn’t already old news.

“There’s only one plausible reason why they’re throwing the kitchen sink
against her now — they’re scared. They know if she runs, she wins. And that
involves throwing every piece of oppo research at her now,” said Adrienne
Elrod of Correct the Record, the rapid response group that has become
Clinton’s main semi-official defender in the press.

In political dark arts, timing is critical and campaigns often wait for the
right moment to release what they’ve dug up — usually close to Election
Day, not two years out. Would team Clinton prefer to have the conservative
FreeBeacon bring to light in June 2014 explosive never-before-heard audio
of the former first lady discussing her legal defense of a child rapist, or
for a mainstream publication to write about in June of 2016?

During the book tour, Clinton had the chance to fortify her defenses
against a variety of criticism. “We are sharpening our responses to the
incoming, it’s our boot camp,” said Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser to the
pro-Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary.

Nonetheless, the fact that the FreeBeacon (and the professional researcher
the website hired) could find anything new at all suggests there may be
more out there. “This idea that we’ve been wasting our best oppo in 2014 is
wishful thinking on their part,” said Tim Miller, one of Clinton’s main
antagonists and the executive director of the Republican super PAC America
Rising, which has become the hub of opposition research for the Republican
Party.

Shauna Daly spent plenty of time digging through Clinton archives as the
deputy research director for Obama’s 2008 campaign. While the Clinton paper
trail is “endless,” she said, the GOP’s anti-Clinton message sounds more
like a “cacophony” than a coherent and damaging attack. “Some people don’t
always have the best restraint,” she added.

The newly fractured political infrastructure means that instead of official
party organizations, where dirt is doled out strategically, attacks are now
mostly driven by a plethora of new super PACs and ideological media outlets
that compete with each other for donors and influence. The Republican
National Committee, Democrats like to crack, has been reduced to sending
out an intern dressed as a squirrel to stalk Clinton.

“I suspect that on the right, the funders want to see some bang for their
buck. But, what they’re doing feels frenetic, not strategic,” said Sefl,
who used to work as an opposition researcher for the Democratic National
Committee.

Miller denies that, saying they’re attacking Clinton because she’s
effectively running a presidential campaign — even if it’s not called that.
“Our only objective as an organization is to make sure our nominee is in
the best position to defeat the Democratic nominee once we reach the
general election in 2016,” he said.

Ryan Williams, who had to defend Romney every day from attacks while
serving as a spokesperson for the candidate’s 2012 campaign, noted that the
best anti-Clinton material has come from Clinton herself. “She’s exposed
herself as a very gaffe-prone candidate,” he said, referring to her “dead
broke” comment and others. “Before this book tour, we weren’t even talking
about Hillary Clinton as an elitist.”

The downside of Clinton’s perceived front-runner status is that every
misstep she makes is news. Meanwhile, the rise of Twitter — which was not
widely used during her last run — means those missteps are disseminated to
political junkies instantaneously.

But most voters aren’t Twitter junkies, and it’s much harder to reach them,
said Rodell Mollineau, who recently stepped down as president of American
Bridge, the Democratic opposition research super PAC. Republicans are
sending up trial balloons to see what works, he said, so Democrats need to
be ready to pop them as they come.

“Their belief is that if they keep throwing it out and throwing out and
throwing out, it will eventually get into the public consciousness. That
takes time,” he said.

That means you can expect to hear a lot more about Clinton’s wealth, age,
and speaking fees — not to mention Benghazi and the Russia “reset” — during
the next two years, if she runs. Clinton has said she’ll decide by the end
of the year.

In her new memoir “Hard Choices,” the former secretary of state wrote about
wanting to do a round of media interviews in Pakistan at the nadir of U.S.
relations with the country. “You’ll be a punching bag,” her staff warned
her. Her response? “I smiled and replied, ‘Punch away.’ “

*The Diplomat opinion: Amb. M. Osman Siddique: “The Economics of US Foreign
Policy”
<http://thediplomat.com/2014/08/the-economics-of-us-foreign-policy/>*

By M. Osman Siddique, the United States Ambassador to Fiji, Tonga, Nauru and
​ Tuvalu from 1999-2001

August 7, 2014

[Subtitle:] U.S. foreign policy can help support the American economy,
writes Ambassador M. Osman Siddique.

In an era of profound shifts and challenges in the global economy, how does
the United States assert leadership in its foreign policy?

We must of course maintain the defense capability to protect ourselves and
our national interests. But as recent misadventurous wars have
demonstrated, military strength alone does not protect American interests
or American lives. To maintain (and, in too many cases, to restore) our
leadership, we must also make ourselves indispensable economic partners.
While shared ideals and mutual respect connect nations, what brings nations
together often are powerful economic ties. I have seen this firsthand while
serving as a U.S. Ambassador, and throughout my career as an international
businessman.

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton knew this, too. She recognized that
strong and long-lasting relationships between countries are not formed
through isolated agreements. Rather, they endure when both parties involved
are seeking greater respect, greater value, and greater confidence in what
can they can accomplish together.

Turning this understanding into action, Secretary Clinton worked diligently
during her tenure at the State Department to strengthen the U.S. economy
and create American jobs. Often quietly and behind the scenes, she worked
to create new economic opportunities for Americans by expanding the reach
of American businesses into new markets. In 2013, Businessweek noted:
“Clinton has argued that commercial diplomacy and the promotion of trade,
long the neglected stepchildren of the foreign policy establishment, are
central to U.S. strategic interests…. her work as a spokeswoman for
American business is a less visible part of her legacy. Yet it may be the
most durable.”

One of the many examples of this work is a deal she helped secure between
Boeing and Indonesia’s Lion Air. Secretary Clinton encouraged Lion Air to
purchase 240 new jets from Boeing, for a total of $21.7 billion. After this
deal was secured, President Obama estimated that it would create over
100,000 new jobs in the United States. These are not short-term contracts,
but rather jobs that will sustain hardworking American families for years.

Her economic diplomacy went well beyond supporting large American
corporations. She was mindful that most American jobs are created by small
businesses, and therefore worked relentlessly to open up global business
opportunities for our small businesses and entrepreneurs. One of her
signature initiatives was to mobilize Americans who were members of the
diaspora community to reach out to their countries of origins and to work
to advance and secure American economic interests as well as moral
imperatives. Her seamless bridging of the economic, political and security
dimensions of U.S. foreign policy has provided a more robust direction to
our participation in the global economy.

Economic statecraft may not be the flashiest side of foreign policy, but
it’s important for economic development in America and around the world.
That is why I have continued on in my career to conduct business here and
abroad.

Over the years, America has wound its way through periods of high global
engagement and eras when we’ve taken a more isolationist stance. But our
world is a better place when public servants like Secretary Clinton
strengthen both our foreign policy and economic ties with countries around
the world. It is a clear win-win.

*Newsday: “Hillary Rodham Clinton book signing draws fans -- and some
critics -- to Huntington's Book Revue”
<http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/hillary-rodham-clinton-book-signing-draws-many-fans-and-some-critics-to-huntington-bookstore-1.8984231>*

By Zachary R. Dowdy

August 6, 2014, 9:54 p.m. EDT

Laura Cerrano, 30, of Farmingdale waited on line for more than seven hours
to meet Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former U.S. Secretary of State whose
appearance and new memoir, "Hard Choices," drew more than 1,000 people onto
Huntington's main drag Wednesday night.

Cerrano said she wanted to "be a part of history" in meeting Clinton, who
ran for president in 2008 and is a potential 2016 candidate.

"It's an experience, once in a lifetime," she said, adding that she arrived
at Huntington's Book Revue at 11 a.m., but did not get to shake Clinton's
hand until after 6 p.m. "How often do you get to meet Hillary Clinton?"

All of the 1,200 books that the bookstore ordered were sold -- complete
with Clinton's signature on them, said bookstore officials. And as many as
1,000 people snaked around the shelves snapping selfies and pictures of
Clinton as well as the photographers and reporters invited there.

"I just love her," said Danielle Steinmetz, 23, of Wantagh. "She's such an
inspiration and role model. It's great to finally meet her. It's a dream
come true."

But not everyone who came to the book store on New York Avenue, north of
Main Street, was a Clinton devotee.

"This is our statement to her: She lied. She's a liar," said Rosemarie
Brady, of Dix Hills, who was among a group of about 50 people who held
protest signs across the street from the event.

The demonstrators lined New York Avenue's east side, while those hoping to
get a peek of Clinton waited on the west side of the street. The groups
exchanged remarks -- sometimes loudly over the din of rush-hour traffic --
as a cadre of Suffolk police kept watch.

The demonstrators' signs had various messages: "Benghazi Does Matter" and
"Support Our Troops Not Benghazi Hillary."

"We don't like her," Brady said. "We don't trust her. We're offended by
her."

Some of the protesters were members of Oath Keepers, an organization that
describes itself as "a nonpartisan association of current and formerly
serving military, police, and first responders who pledge to fulfill the
oath all military and police take to 'defend the Constitution against all
enemies, foreign and domestic.' "

Tyrone Costa, the group's sergeant-at-arms for Suffolk County, said Clinton
has a shoddy record.

"She didn't tell the truth when she made it on the tarmac in Croatia," he
said, referring to a March 1996 trip Clinton made to Tuzla, Bosnia, as
first lady. Clinton said she arrived amid gunfire at the airport, but a
news crew that accompanied her on the trip documented no such hostilities.

Clinton's critics didn't stop longtime supporter Mike Prete, 63, of
Smithtown from showing up. He said he has been impressed with Clinton's
record as secretary of state, adding that he hopes she runs for president
again.

"I've followed her career," said Prete, who retired five years ago from a
job in the financial sector. "I'm hoping that she does run."

*New York Daily News blog: Daily Politics: “'Ready For Hillary' dinner
party hitting the Hamptons”
<http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/dinner-party-fundraising-potential-hillary-clinton-presidential-run-coming-hamptons-blog-entry-1.1894594>*

By Annie Karni

August 6, 2014, 7:54 p.m. EDT

Real estate investor Dan Neidich and his wife, philanthropist and Whitney
Museum chairwoman Brooke Neidich, are hosting an A-list dinner party to
raise money for a potential Hillary Clinton presidential bid on Friday,
Aug. 22 in Wainscott, N.Y.

The soiree will be co-hosted by former Gov. Jon Corzine, Corzine’s wife,
Sharon; and Claude Wasserstein, the former wife of the late billionaire
Bruce Wasserstein, among others.

Actress and activist Ashley Judd is billed as a special guest, alongside
David Brock, founder of the Democratic rapid response team Correct the
Record; and Craig Smith, a senior advisor for Ready for Hillary.

The dinner will be a “discussion about the work being done to lay the
foundation for a potential Hillary Clinton presidential campaign,”
according to an invite obtained by The News.

The event will raise money for the Ready For Hillary PAC, which is building
a grassroots movement of support for a potential Hillary Clinton
presidential bid.

The invite does not list ticket prices, but Ready for Hillary voluntarily
caps donors at $25,000.

*Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Hillary Clinton has finally almost passed
Bob Gates in book sales”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/08/06/hillary-clinton-has-finally-almost-passed-bob-gates-in-book-sales/>*

By Philip Bump

August 6, 2014, 4:51 p.m. EDT

Remember Hillary Clinton's book? For weeks, "Hard Choices" was the talk of
the town, and not always because the rollout was going so smoothly.

Before the first week's sales numbers were out, there were rumblings that
sales wouldn't hit public expectations -- certainly landing well short of
sales of "Living History," her previous autobiography, but perhaps even
missing lower targets. One Clinton advisor suggested to Politico that the
book be compared to former defense secretary Bob Gates' book "Duty." Which
we did, and the comparison wasn't great: "Duty" had outsold "Hard Choices"
handily in total volume, and it wasn't clear when Clinton would catch up.

Now it is. This next week, probably.

We got updated sales numbers from Nielsen BookScan, tracking only hardcover
sales of the books, and mixed in a number of other prominent political
books from the year to see what we got. At long last, Clinton's book is on
the brink of passing Gates' -- thanks to a higher average weekly sales
total. (Which is to be expected; since sales taper off over time, Gates'
book having been out longer means more weeks with lower sales, dragging the
average down.)

The books we decided to compare, in addition to the two mentioned above:

Ben Carson's "One Nation"

Dinesh D'Souza's "America" (which has had its own sales troubles)

Daniel Halper's "Clinton, Inc."

Ed Klein's "Blood Feud"

Elizabeth Warren's "A Fighting Chance"

And, lo:

[GRAPHS OF TOTAL BOOK SALES AND BOOK SALES BY WEEK]

There you go. Still in second place, but clearly not for long. At long
last, the Clinton advisor's early optimism is about to bear fruit.

*Washington Times: “Scaife funeral proves philanthropy trumps politics”
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/6/tyrrell-philanthropy-over-politics/>*

By R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

August 6, 2014

One would never guess who attended Dick Scaife’s memorial service in the
Pennsylvania countryside last week. Scaife has been referred to as the
“father of modern conservatism.”

In his lifetime, he donated a fortune across a whole range of philanthropic
endeavors, from the arts to medical research to politics — conservative
politics. His conservative causes were very elevated — sophisticated thinks
tanks, professorial chairs, intellectual reviews — but also at times they
were very partisan. In the 1990s, Scaife was a leading opponent of Bill
Clinton, and he frequently drew blood. When Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke of
the “vast right-wing conspiracy” she doubtless had him in mind.

Yet at the memorial service, standing there with the conservative
chieftains was a lone Democrat, Mr. Clinton, yes, the very same. The 42nd
president not only put in an appearance, but he actually spoke on Dick
Scaife’s behalf, saying, “Our political differences, our philosophical
differences, our religious differences, our racial and ethnic differences,
they’re important . They help us to define who we are. But they don’t have
to keep us at arm’s length from others.” And he concluded, “I think the
counterintuitive friendship we formed is a good symbol of Richard Mellon
Scaife’s legacy . He fought as hard as he could for what he believed, but
he never thought he had to be blind or deaf” to reviewing his positions.

Yale Gutnick, Scaife’s lawyer, explained both men’s affinity best. Mr.
Gutnick said they became friends because they “shared a mutual love of
America.” After all the battles of the 1990s, they came together for the
country they loved, Scaife giving more than $100,000 to Mr. Clinton’s
foundation for the victims of AIDS. Scaife was a great philanthropist. Mr.
Clinton is learning. Scaife had said that of all the people he wanted to
have speak at his funeral, he wanted the former president. They had buried
the hatchet.

So if philanthropy can bring together Dick Scaife and Bill Clinton in a
celebration of America, how does one explain the bitter denunciations of
the Brothers Koch, who are at the very pinnacle of philanthropy themselves?
This week The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times have both
featured pieces about the truly astonishing invective that has been hurled
at the Kochs for philanthropic acts that have absolutely nothing to do with
politics. The Kochs have separated their support for
conservative-libertarian causes, which can be simply educational, and for
the Tea Party, which is obviously more partisan, from their philanthropy of
a nonpolitical nature. It has not quieted their critics, not even when the
philanthropy was for the arts or for minority education.

Consider David Koch, who lives in New York City. Recently, he gave $100
million to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He has donated $20 million
to the American Museum of Natural History and another $100 million to the
City Center of Music & Drama. In 2012, he gave $10 million to the Mount
Sinai Medical Center and $65 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He
has also given money to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, to the American Ballet Theatre, and to Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center. Of course, many New Yorkers have been grateful. Yet there
are the noisy critics. Two unions called rallies against David Koch’s
donations to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, citing the Koch brothers’
opposition to Obamacare. Apparently, the Kochs are not allowed to have
ideas on medical policy, if they are going to enjoy the privilege of giving
money to medical care.

More recently, the brothers gave a $25 million donation to the United Negro
College Fund, the fund’s fifth-largest donation in history. Armstrong
Williams tells us in The Washington Times that the grant was greeted with
hysteria. Harry Belafonte called it the gift of “white supremacists.” Lee
Saunders, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, broke off relations with the United Negro College Fund, and
Twitter reverberated with ignorant jeremiads against “UNCF literally
sell[ing] ‘their soul to the devil,’ accepting checks from the Koch
Brothers without knowing their evil history.”

In a day when Bill Clinton and Dick Scaife can smoke the peace pipe, what
explains this sort of uncivilized outburst against generous nonpolitical
philanthropy? It is irrational and hateful. Yet that is where our politics
are heading today. Bill Clinton and Dick Scaife are the exceptions. The
response to the Koch brothers is more normative and, frankly, it worries me.

*MSNBC: “Ready for Warren heads to Iowa”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ready-warren-heads-iowa>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

August 6, 2014, 2:35 p.m. EDT

Ready for Warren, the new super PAC hoping to draft Massachusetts
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race, is headed
to Iowa.

Erica Sagrans, the Democratic operative who founded the group, told msnbc
she’s traveling to the Iowa State Fair Thursday, where she and local
volunteers will spend the rest of the week connecting with party officials
and engaging grassroots supporters of the progressive senator. Eventually,
the group hopes to hire an organizer on the ground in the first caucus
state.

“We’re showing people we’re for real and building an organization in the
early states,” Sagrans said, adding that the group already has a strong
base of volunteers in the state who have signed up via email and social
media. “There’s going to be a lot enthusiasm for Warren in Iowa.”

Though Warren has repeatedly and emphatically insisted she isn’t running
for president, the senator has put herself front and center this summer
firing up progressives and campaigning for fellow Democratic women in hot
U.S. Senate races. Warren supporters also point out that then-Sen. Barack
Obama said the same thing in 2006 before challenging Hillary Clinton for
the Democratic nomination in 2008. Obama upset Clinton in Iowa, where she
came in third.

“We need a progressive champion in the race, whether that’s Warren or
somebody else,” said Sagrans, a former staffer on Obama’s reelection
campaign.

The group, which launched in July during the Netroots Nation Conference in
Detroit, recently started accepting donations on their website. It’s also
in the process of putting together a national finance council to solicit
larger contributions, and may release the names of its bigger donors in
order to promote transparency.

For this year, Ready for Warren hopes to get involved in congressional
midterm races by supporting candidates who have similar views as Warren’s
and for whom the senator has campaigned. On August 28th, the super PAC will
be holding house parties across the country to build support.

Former Secretary of State Clinton has had her own well-funded draft
campaign for more than a year and a half, which served as a model for Ready
for Warren. Clinton has said she will decide if she’s running by the end of
the year.

*Washington Post: “On the trail in Kentucky, Bill Clinton gets practice
playing second fiddle”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/on-the-trail-in-kentucky-bill-clinton-gets-practice-playing-second-fiddle/2014/08/06/ff589230-1d87-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html>*

By Ben Terris

August 6, 2014, 7:59 p.m. EDT

Katy Perry’s “Roar” blasts through the speakers in this downtown Lexington
mansion-turned-event space. The song has the power of summoning Alison
Lundergan Grimes at events like these, and just like that she appears from
behind a blue curtain. The crowd is especially raucous today, because this
time former president Bill Clinton appears beside Grimes, the Kentucky
Democrat who is aiming to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Clinton bites his lower lip into his familiar smirk, waves to the standing
crowd. Then he sits, and it’s like he isn’t there.

“I’m a Clinton Democrat,” Grimes thunders into the microphone, the
eponymous figure not even flinching at the sound of his own name. He sits
motionless behind her, his mouth slightly agape as he listens intently.
Grimes speaks for about 15 minutes. She does a call and response about how
McConnell always says no (to things like a minimum- wage increase, equal
pay for equal work) while she says yes. She talks about how the race is a
referendum on McConnell’s 30 years in office, and says: “Let me get this
straight, I am the pro-coal candidate.” Then she finally gets around to
introducing Clinton.

“I was pretty happy just sitting back there listening,” he says. “I don’t
know if Alison left me much to say.”

The crowd at the Wednesday lunch event, made up of the upper echelon of
Kentucky Democratic politics (including three former governors, the current
one, and the one Democrat who has announced his intent to run for that
office in 2015) takes a moment from picking at their chocolate cheesecake
topped with caramel and specks of mint to laugh.

Clinton has never been at a loss for words. But at two stops across the
state Wednesday in support of Grimes, he got some good practice at playing
second fiddle.

If the day felt like a trial run at campaigning, should his wife choose to
seek the presidency in 2016, he brought it upon himself. At both events he
mentioned Hillary at the outset, thanking the state for voting for her in
the 2008 Democratic primary against Barack Obama.

“I really do love Kentucky,” Clinton says, his voice hoarse, giving him the
added benefit of sounding like he’s choked up with emotion. “When people
said Hillary was a washed-up candidate, you voted for her by 37 points. I
appreciate that. Not that I was following too closely.”

After the morning event at the mansion — where tickets started at $200 and
which included an operatic performance of “My Old Kentucky Home” — Clinton
and the Grimes team hopped on a little private plane and flew to Hazard, in
the coal country of Eastern Kentucky. They were met by more than 1,000
people. The crowd included some miners from the western part of the state
who had been bused in by the United Mine Workers of America, which has
endorsed Grimes. So many had turned out, in fact, that not everyone could
make it into the auditorium.

“There’s room for chairs, but the fire marshal said no more people can come
in,” campaign manager Jonathan Hurst says plaintively to the line snaking
around the outside of the Hal Rogers Center.

One family drove five hours to be there, another complains that an
88-year-old man shouldn’t be stuck out in the heat.

“The fire marshal? Hell, he’s from Hazard,” says Jordan Whitaker, a
fourth-generation miner who wanted to see Clinton. He remembers being a kid
back in 2000 when Clinton last visited the area. The president shook his
hand so hard he nearly fell off his mother’s lap.

Inside, Clinton makes use of an oft-repeated McConnell line that it was not
the senator’s job to bring jobs to Kentucky.

“When Hillary was the senator from New York, she was virtually unopposed
when she ran for reelection,” he tells members in Hazard, asking them to
pipe down when they erupt into cheers. “Because the Republican area of our
state, Upstate New York which was like Eastern Kentucky . . . thought she
was the only public official that had an economic development plan for them

Onstage in Hazard, Clinton again sits behind Grimes as she speaks. The
Hazard crowd out-whoops the morning mansion gathering, and the former
president seems more animated. He pulls off an “avuncular-chic” look,
gazing upon Grimes proudly as she galvanizes the gathering, chuckling at
the jokes he had heard just hours earlier and fussing with his eyeglasses
and some papers.

The role of political uncle is an easy one for Clinton in this case. He has
known Grimes since she was young, having become friends with her father
when Jerry Lundergan was the Democratic Party chairman in Kentucky and he
was the governor of neighboring Arkansas.

There’s a sentiment in the Grimes camp — rarely spoken on the record — that
if President Obama weren’t so unpopular in Kentucky, Grimes might be up by
10 points over McConnell. As it stands, all the polls have the race
neck-and-neck. Meanwhile, Clinton, the last federally elected Democrat to
win the state, remains a Kentucky favorite. And amid the raucous crowd —
where people yelled, “We’d take you for a third term” and “I’m ready for
Hillary” — it’s easy to see why. He can speak the language.

In Hazard, standing in front members of the United Mine Workers of America,
Clinton talks about crusading for the rights of miners suffering from black
lung as a young lawyer. He says that fight is one of the things he is “most
proud of” in his life, and dozens of men and women wearing UMW camo shirts
with the tagline “We are everywhere” stand up in wild applause.

Eastern Kentucky has been decimated by job losses in the coal industry. The
Obama administration’s proposed regulations designed to cut coal plant
emissions aren’t a particular favorite in the area. During the campaign,
the McConnell team has pointed out that the Environmental Protection Agency
building is named after Clinton and that he has “applauded” Obama on the
issue. The former president avoids any mention of this in his speech.

Instead, Clinton reminisces about the last time he came to Hazard, in 2000,
to try and pass the a tax credit that would help rural areas.

“I’ll never forget that day in Hazard. I’ll never forget how hot it was. . . .
You couldn’t breathe, the air was so thick and hot. But there was a sense
that America was on the move and that small towns and rural areas got to be
a part of it.”

Then, he holds up a small packet of papers, Grimes’s jobs plan for Kentucky.

“It would be wrong to try and build a future for America that leaves rural
America and small-town America out,” he says, waving the packet. “Every
page of this is about you.”

After the speech he mingles inside a while, then goes outside to shake the
hands of some of the people who didn’t make it in. People shout his name —
“Bill! Bill!” — and try to touch him. Selfies abound.

Nearby, a man sells “Hillary Clinton for President” buttons, one for $5 or
three for $10.

“Is she running?” a woman asks him.

“Man, I hope so,” says a man wearing a UMW shirt. “If she’s anything like
him.”

“She has not declared, but we’ve talked to some people and think she’s very
close to it,” the button-peddler says, stroking his long, brown beard.

“Okay, I’ll take three.”

*Christian Science Monitor: “Bill Clinton factor: Can he tip Senate race to
topple McConnell? (+video)”
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0806/Bill-Clinton-factor-Can-he-tip-Senate-race-to-topple-McConnell-video>*

By Francine Kiefer

August 6, 2014

[Subtitle:] Bill Clinton's campaign swing in Kentucky aims to give a boost
to Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is slipping in the polls in a key
Senate race.

In the most closely watched Senate race in the country, Bill Clinton is
campaigning for Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky on Wednesday.

Lucky Grimes.

It’s not so easy to get the popular former president to come to your aid.
Mr. Clinton's time is precious. He runs a global foundation. He’s a highly
sought-after speaker. And then there’s the matter of his wife’s potential
presidential campaign.

So in this election cycle, when President Obama’s name is mud in a red
state like Kentucky, it helps to be an FOB (friend of Bill) if you want his
support. Or to live in a state that could help Hillary Rodham Clinton in
2016. Ms. Grimes, who is in a tight race against Republican Senate minority
leader Mitch McConnell, qualifies on both fronts.

Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Kentucky in a
presidential election – both times. His wife handily beat Mr. Obama there
in the 2008 presidential primary.

In February, the former president raised more than $600,000 for Grimes at a
Louisville fundraiser. Today, he’s campaigning for her first in Lexington
and then in Hazard, deep in depressed coal country. Coal is a tough issue
for Grimes, because of Obama’s “war on coal,” as Senator McConnell calls it.

“It’s not a big surprise that [Clinton’s] campaigning” in Kentucky, says
Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the independent Cook Political
Report. “It stems from a long friendship.”

The bond began with Grimes’s father, Jerry, and was forged back in the
1980s. That’s when Mr. Lundergan – who shares a
pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps narrative with “Bubba” – was a delegate
in the state legislature and chairman of the state Democratic Party.
Clinton was governor of close-by Arkansas. During an event at his first
presidential inaugural, a teenaged Alison handed the president a bouquet of
roses at the Lincoln Memorial.

Now Clinton is trying to keep the bloom on the rose of his protégé,
Kentucky’s young secretary of state whom he encouraged to run. She’s
trailing McConnell by just 2 points, at 45 percent to 47 percent, according
to the July Bluegrass Poll commissioned by Kentucky media.

With a poll margin of error at +/- 4.1 percent, the race is still a virtual
tie, but Democrats are worried that she has fallen back in every Bluegrass
poll since her February high, when she was up by 4 points.

"It is so close and there is plenty of time to reverse that trend,"
Democratic political consultant Danny Briscoe told the Courier Journal in
Louisville, Ky. "But it shows that Mitch McConnell's attacks are working
and she's going to have to respond better than she has so far."

Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take the Senate this year, and
“Bill Clinton is going to be a fairly hot commodity and Hillary Clinton,
too, depending on how much she wants to campaign in these fairly red
states,” says Kyle Kondick of the University of Virginia Center for
Politics.

His value is in fundraising, lending credibility to candidates, and
inspiring the base in states where Obama is not popular. “The kind of
Clinton Democratic Party is something different from the Obama Democratic
Party,” says Mr. Kondick. “It’s a little less obviously liberal.”

Clinton’s campaign events so far this campaign cycle include Democratic
fundraisers in his home state of Arkansas (for James Lee Witt, former head
of FEMA under Clinton, who is running for Congress; Patrick Henry Hays,
longtime friend, also running for Congress; for former US Rep. Mike Ross,
who drove for Clinton when he ran for a second term as governor, now
running for governor himself; and for embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor).

He’s also headlined state Democratic Party fundraisers in Florida and
Michigan – both battleground states that would be key to a Hillary Clinton
win.

Political experts expect him to pick up the pace come fall. Indeed, the
Grimes campaign expects him back in Kentucky and says he will feature in
television ads.

Will all this make a difference? In Kentucky, actually, some political
analysts have their doubts. Stuart Rothenberg has said that there is so
much media coverage of the Kentucky race that voters will be able to make
up their own minds – without needing to rely on a celebrity to do it for
them.

Clinton’s fundraiser and ad spot for his son-in-law’s mother, former US
Rep. Marjorie Margolies – who was trying to regain the seat she lost after
casting the deciding vote for an unpopular Clinton spending plan – did not
stop her from losing her primary in May

But Grimes can be heartened by this: The Clintons went all out for their
friend Terry McAuliffe last year in a nail-biter race for Virginia
governor. Mr. McAuliffe eked out a narrow victory – with a little help from
his friends.

*Louisville Courier-Journal (K.Y.): “Grimes, Bill Clinton stump in coal
country”
<http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2014/08/06/grimes-bill-clinton-stump-coal-country/13696121/>*

By Mike Wynn

August 7, 2014, 2:37 a.m. EDT

HAZARD, Ky. – After working 33 years in an Eastern Kentucky coal mine, Cleo
Tackett said he's seen a lot of politicians talk about coal jobs during
elections, but he's still waiting for one who can help the region's
depressed economy.

"We need somebody in there that will work to replace coal jobs," he said.
"Our coal seams have gotten down to where they ain't 30 inches high. The
rest of the country got 6 foot. Just do the math, we can't compete."

In a region hostile to the Obama administration, Democrat Alison Lundergan
Grimes sought to appeal to Eastern Kentucky voters like Tackett on
Wednesday as she appeared in Hazard with former President Bill Clinton and
promised a crowd of more than 800 that she would stand up for coal — and
miners.

It was a message clearly on voters' minds as they hoisted signs, screamed
"Ditch Mitch," and cheered Grimes in her bid to unseat Republican Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this November.

Eastern Kentucky has lost more than 7,000 coal jobs since 2011, and where
Grimes spoke in Perry County, mining employment was down 20 percent last
year, compared with 2012 — when more than 67 percent of local Democrats
voted "uncommitted" in the primary election rather than support President
Barack Obama.

But for more than an hour Wednesday, Grimes, Clinton and high-profile
Kentucky Democrats slammed McConnell as an out-of-touch Washington insider
who has failed to create or save any coal jobs.

And to the cheers of miners, they pledged that Grimes would serve as a
"Clinton Democrat," supporting better wages, mine safety and health.

"One candidate believes it's about jobs and incomes … and the other
believes a senator has no business trying to create jobs," Clinton said in
a shot at McConnell. "Nobody can tell me it's not a senator's job,
especially one with 30 years of experience."

Clinton also sought to distinguish between Grimes and the administration,
noting Obama has only two more years in office while Grimes is seeking a
six-year term. And he compared her to former Sen. Wendell Ford, who Clinton
said, always voted for Kentucky first, but still worked with presidents he
disagreed with.

Grimes, for her part, had the crowd chanting "Mitch McConnell" as she asked
who has served in the Senate for years as thousands of coal jobs have
disappeared and EPA regulations "have hit Kentucky hardest."

"Let's get something straight. senator, I am the pro-coal candidate in this
race," Grimes said. "… I am the Kentucky candidate who will work to make
sure we have a comprehensive mine safety policy as well as a commitment to
our miners and their widows to get their black lung benefits."

She even borrowed one of Clinton's most famous lines: "It's the economy,
stupid."

The McConnell campaign has made coal a central issue in the race, arguing
that a vote for Grimes amounts to a vote for Obama's "anti-coal" policies.

McConnell's team released a statement Wednesday, taking aim at Clinton and
arguing that the EPA headquarters even bears his name.

"It must not have occurred to Alison Lundergan Grimes that after Barack
Obama declared the war on coal, he named the building tasked with executing
his mission after the man she's bringing to Eastern Kentucky," McConnell
spokeswoman Allison Moore said.

Clinton carried Kentucky twice while running for president, and he helped
Hillary Clinton win more than 65 percent of the vote in Kentucky during her
2008 primary bid against Obama.

The United Mine Workers of America, which has endorsed Grimes, bused miners
in for Wednesday's event — they wore camouflage shirts that read "we are
everywhere." And union leaders say they hope to effect a "game change" for
Grimes in Eastern Kentucky, running ads on her behalf this fall.

Meanwhile, Nancy Cade, a professor of history and political science at the
nearby University of Pikeville, said it's unclear how much Clinton can help
turn out voters in Eastern Kentucky.

"I think he can help the Grimes campaign," she said. "Whether it will be
enough, I have my doubts."

Dennis Brooks, the county judge-executive in Wolfe County — and a Grimes
supporter — agreed that she faces obstacles in the region. But he said
Clinton's appearance generated lots of excitement.

"He's got a great name and he's just been good for our country," he said.
"The words Bill Clinton will draw people out in Eastern Kentucky."

Sunshine Smoot, 35, a pediatrician from Breathitt County, who showed up to
hear Clinton speak, said he carries clout in the area as "he was one of our
most successful presidents in the past. We had a good economy under his
reign."

For Tackett, 55, who described himself as a conservative Democrat, his
support for Grimes stems from the belief she can find jobs to replace
mining while protecting the coal jobs that remain.

He said many voters in the region are conservative because of beliefs on
religion and abortion, but that the Democratic message on economic issues —
and even health care — still resonates with people in Eastern Kentucky.

Tackett added that McConnell should have realized decades ago that changes
were needed in the region's economy. So, he asked after hearing the
speeches Wednesday, "why ain't he done nothin' to help this part of the
country?"

*Calendar:*

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

·  August 9 – Water Mill, NY: Sec. Clinton fundraises for the Clinton
Foundation at the home of George and Joan Hornig (WSJ
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/17/for-50000-best-dinner-seats-with-the-clintons-in-the-hamptons/>
)

·  August 13 – Martha’s Vinyard, MA: Sec. Clinton signs books at Bunch of
Grapes (HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/martha_s_vineyard_book_signing>)

·  August 16 – East Hampton, New York: Sec. Clinton signs books at
Bookhampton East Hampton (HillaryClintonMemoir.com
<http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/long_island_book_signing2>)

·  August 28 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes Nexenta’s OpenSDx
Summit (BusinessWire
<http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140702005709/en/Secretary-State-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton-Deliver-Keynote#.U7QoafldV8E>
)

·  September 4 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton speaks at the National Clean
Energy Summit (Solar Novis Today
<http://www.solarnovus.com/hillary-rodham-clinto-to-deliver-keynote-at-national-clean-energy-summit-7-0_N7646.html>
)

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

·  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 13-16 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes
salesforce.com Dreamforce
conference (salesforce.com
<http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/keynotes.jsp>)

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