Subject: ​Correct The Record Tuesday October 14, 2014 Morning Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 07:53:00 -0400
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*​**Correct The Record Tuesday October 14, 2014 Morning Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*Associated Press: “Hillary Clinton says students should get fair shot”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f4ccf0084483477ab64ee06140d70d72/hillary-clinton-says-students-should-get-fair-shot>*

“Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a Las Vegas
crowd Monday night that more needs to be done to assure young people can
achieve their dreams and free students from onerous college debt ‘that can
feel like an anchor tied to their feet dragging them down.’”

*Las Vegas Sun: “Hillary Clinton’s Las Vegas visit shows signs of White
House ambitions”
<http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/oct/13/live-hillary-clintons-keynote-speech-unlv-foundati/>*

“Hillary Clinton’s night in Las Vegas showed all the signs of someone
running to be the most powerful person in the world.”

*Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Clinton raises campaign cash; advocates for
affordable education”
<http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/clinton-raises-campaign-cash-advocates-affordable-education>*

“Speaking to supporters of higher education, Hillary Clinton Monday night
urged the private business community to partner with the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas to help more young people earn college degrees that will
give them more opportunity for higher paying jobs of the future.”

...

"Before the UNLV Foundation dinner, Clinton headlined a private Nevada
Democratic Party fundraiser where donors were asked to contribute from
$1,000 to $10,000 each. Money went to the state party and to U.S. Sen.
Harry Reid, D-Nev., for his 2016 re-election campaign."

*Denver Post: “Hillary Clinton campaigns for Sen. Mark Udall at Denver
Union Station”
<http://www.denverpost.com/election2014/ci_26721137/hillary-clinton-campaigns-sen-mark-udall-at-denver>*

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton surprised travelers at Denver
Union Station when she and U.S. Sen. Mark Udall showed up Monday afternoon.”

*Associated Press: “Hillary Clinton swings by Colorado to help Udall”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dc96f0a30a814f5388ae64ed1161ca5e/hillary-clinton-swings-colorado-help-udall>*

“Hillary Clinton swung by Colorado to help out embattled Democratic Sen.
Mark Udall on Monday during a western swing in which she also spoke of
being a new grandmother.”

*Elko Daily Free Press opinion: Gregg Potter: “Proud to have Hillary
Clinton at UNLV”
<http://elkodaily.com/commentary-proud-to-have-hillary-clinton-at-unlv/article_c5a48f1d-9ee8-58a5-bef1-8b126969ebdc.html>*

“As a proud graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, I am thrilled
that Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UNLV Foundation’s annual dinner
Monday night.”

*CNN: “GOP spotlights fees ahead of Clinton Vegas fundraisers”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/politics/clinton-nevada-republicans-money/index.html>*

"Clinton also told ABC News in August that 'all of the fees have been
donated to the Clinton Foundation for it to continue its life-changing and
life-saving work.'"

*Detroit News: “Hillary Clinton plans Oakland Univ. visit”
<http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/10/13/hillary-clinton-will-visit-oakland-university/17211837/>*

“Hillary Rodham Clinton will arrive in Michigan Thursday to help boost two
high-profile Democrats in their election campaign pushes.”

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Elizabeth Warren Highlights
Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Problem”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/13/elizabeth-warren-highlights-hillary-clintons-goldman-problem/?KEYWORDS=hillary+clinton>*

“Ms. Warren took no swipes at Mrs. Clinton. Along with other women
Democratic senators, she has signed a letter supporting a Clinton
presidential bid. But she did take aim at Goldman Sachs, a firm with close
ties to the Clinton family.”

*The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Warren inches away from Obama”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/220619-warren-inches-away-from-obama>*

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is beginning to distance herself from
President Obama amid increased speculation about what role she wants to
play in 2016.”

*The Daily Beast: Sally Kohn: “Warren and Christie Are the Anti-Hillarys”
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/14/warren-and-christie-are-the-anti-hillarys.html>*

"In other words, although anyone markedly more socially conservative than
Christie stands no realistic chance of being elected President of the
United States of America as the electorate becomes even more socially
liberal, the right of the right is so damned determined to police the
borders of its increasingly irrelevant influence that it is eschewing
Christie for not being right wing enough."

*Washington Post: “Can’t quit Mitt: Friends say Romney feels nudge to
consider a 2016 presidential run”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cant-quit-mitt-friends-say-romney-feels-nudge-to-consider-a-2016-presidential-run/2014/10/13/2cb19d12-52ee-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html>*

“Romney has huddled with prominent donors and reconnected with supporters
in key states in recent months. Because of the vacuum of power within his
party and the lack of a clear 2016 front-runner, confidants said Romney is
grappling with this question: If drafted, would he answer the party’s call?”

*CNN: “How many ways can Romney say no to 2016?”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/politics/romney-says-no-to-2016/index.html>*

“The former Massachusetts governor has been accused of flip-flopping in the
past, but he's been pretty consistent on his future: He's a ‘no.’”

*Articles:*

*Associated Press: “Hillary Clinton says students should get fair shot”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f4ccf0084483477ab64ee06140d70d72/hillary-clinton-says-students-should-get-fair-shot>*

By Kimberly Pierceall

October 14, 2014, 1:48 a.m. EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told
a Las Vegas crowd Monday night that more needs to be done to assure young
people can achieve their dreams and free students from onerous college debt
"that can feel like an anchor tied to their feet dragging them down."

"I think our young people deserve a fair shot," she told about 900 people
gathered in a Bellagio resort ballroom for the annual UNLV Foundation
dinner benefiting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Later, talking about the American public's possible reluctance to get
involved in conflicts around the world, Clinton referred to the threats
posed by the Ebola virus and the Islamic State group.

"They want to bring the fight to Europe and the fight to the United
States," she said of the terrorist group.

And Ebola is not going to stay confined, she said.

At every step, officials should ask if actions are in America's best
interest, she said.

"We can't say we're not going to be involved because these things are other
people's problems," she said.

The remarks were part of questions from longtime friend and Las Vegas Sun
Publisher Brian Greenspun after Clinton's prepared speech that touched on
her thoughts on Russian President Vladimir Putin ("I see a very
cold-blooded, calculated former KGB agent who is determined to not only
enrich himself and his closest colleagues but also to try to revive
Russia's influence around its border"), the most important person she's
ever met (Nelson Mandela for his "level of self-awareness and political
skill") and her most difficult decision as secretary of state ("Whether or
not to go after Bin Laden based on the evidence we had.").

But before any questions, Greenspun presented her a gift: a pair of Nike
athletic shoes, a reference to one of her last appearances in Las Vegas in
April when a woman in the crowd threw a shoe at Clinton.

"How do we make amends?" he asked. By giving her two shoes instead of just
the one.

Greenspun pointed out the pair came from the "running" shoes section, a coy
reference to speculation surrounding a possible presidential run by Clinton.

She didn't give anything away about her future plans after Greenspun
pressed a second time asking about any unfinished business she might have
and how she would finish it, a reference to a chapter in her book, "Hard
Choices."

"I'm really going to have to ponder that seriously," she said.

Before Monday's event, Clinton made a stop in Denver to campaign for
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall and later appeared at a Nevada Democratic Party
fundraiser in Las Vegas with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Las
Vegas Sun reported that VIP tickets to the fundraiser at the Aria resort
cost $10,000 each.

The UNLV Foundation dinner honored billionaire Republican fundraiser and
Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Clinton, who commended Adelson for his donations to the university, said
she had run into the casino-hotel mogul backstage.

"Sheldon said to me, 'Gee, I wish they would have paired me with you to ask
the questions. We could have had a real debate,'" Clinton said. "Well, that
would certainly bring a crowd," she said, adding that it might have
required a boxing ring.

Adelson's Las Vegas Sands has committed giving $7 million to fund
construction of Hospitality Hall for the university's Harrah Hotel College
and a proposed Center for Professional and Leadership Studies.

The event also posthumously honored philanthropist Kitty Rodman whose
estate pledged $12.9 million for the university's special education
programs.

*Las Vegas Sun: “Hillary Clinton’s Las Vegas visit shows signs of White
House ambitions”
<http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/oct/13/live-hillary-clintons-keynote-speech-unlv-foundati/>*

By Kyle Roerink

October 13, 2014, 7:33 p.m.

Hillary Clinton’s night in Las Vegas showed all the signs of someone
running to be the most powerful person in the world.

The former secretary of state helped raise money for fellow Democrats. She
spoke about education, war and peace. She even congratulated Republican
super donor Sheldon Adelson for his UNLV philanthropy.

Clinton's keynote address made no reference to higher office. But the 900
students, donors and politicians who attended the UNLV Foundation’s annual
dinner saw plenty of signals.

Her question-and-answer session with Brian Greenspun, the Las Vegas Sun
editor and publisher and a UNLV trustee, featured a mix of lighthearted
stories about people she's met in politics and showcased Clinton’s work in
international affairs.

*Clinton and Adelson*

Before delivering her keynote address, Clinton had a word with Adelson, CEO
of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. The UNLV Foundation honored Adelson tonight
for donating $7 million. When Clinton and Adelson crossed paths backstage,
they didn’t trade partisan jabs. Clinton said that Adelson told her he
wished that he was asking the questions on stage. “That would have been a
debate,” Adelson reportedly told Clinton. Clinton told the crowd, dining in
the Tower Ballroom at the Bellagio, “We would have needed a boxing arena.”

*Education*

Clinton used her keynote address to aim at problems in higher education.
She attacked “fly-by-night for-profit schools” and predatory lenders that
“exploit students.” She hinted at Congress’ inability to pass higher
education reforms to tackle the problems. She said the solutions “shouldn’t
be partisan or controversial.”

“I don’t think any group, any political party, any business, any sector of
the economy, any politician has all the answers. In fact, I think it’s time
we got back to working together again,” she said.

Clinton’s keynote speech also touched on what Nevada is doing to improve
its worst-in-the-nation public education system.

She said her family’s charity — the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton
Foundation — is working with Barrick Gold Corp. to develop programs at
Great Basin Community College and vocational programs to train Nevadans
(Greenspun is on the Barrick Gold board of directors). Clinton, who was
paid $225,000 for speaking, donated the money to her family charity.

*Speaking like a candidate*

If Clinton does run for office, she will inevitably face questions about
her time as secretary of state.

Asked about tough decisions she made as the chief foreign policy adviser to
President Barack Obama, Clinton spoke about the “excruciating analysis”
before going after Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“A lot of the assessments that pointed to his compound in Abbottabad was 40
to 60 percent reliable,” she said. Then she added: “Sorting that through
was a really difficult decision.”

She didn’t specifically address an attack at a consulate in Benghazi,
Libya, that killed four American officials. Critics blamed Clinton for not
doing enough to protect diplomats in Benghazi and for her handling of the
investigation that followed.

Clinton said military force should be a last resort but said the U.S.
cannot retreat from the world’s problems.

“I don’t think the United States can solve every problem in the world. But
I don’t think you can solve problems without the United States,” she said.

She didn’t back away from questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin,
calling him “a cold-blooded former KGB agent.”

She added: "In my dealings with Putin, we’ve had an ongoing exchange of
argumentation and heated views from time to time. He is someone who can be
understood and dealt with. But it takes a long-term strategic commitment.”

She said Putin has influenced Russia’s neighbors with natural gas holdings
and by having his “friends” purchase media companies in Eastern European
states.

She said the world “cannot allow the borders of Europe to be re-written the
way Putin is trying to rewrite Ukraine. ... That will be bad for us."

*Running shoes*

Clinton has now visited Las Vegas three times this year. Her first visit
made headlines after a woman threw a shoe at her during a speech before the
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries convention in April at Mandalay Bay.

Greenspun apologized for the incident, and without saying anything about
Clinton’s purported aspirations to run for president in 2016, handed her a
pair of Nike running shoes.

*Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Clinton raises campaign cash; advocates for
affordable education”
<http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/clinton-raises-campaign-cash-advocates-affordable-education>*

By Laura Myers

October 13, 2014, 9:33 p.m.

Speaking to supporters of higher education, Hillary Clinton Monday night
urged the private business community to partner with the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas to help more young people earn college degrees that will
give them more opportunity for higher paying jobs of the future.

Now, Clinton said, the cost of education is too high for many students,
particularly those with little money and access to grants and scholarships.
And the job market is so challenging that even graduates with college
degrees are having difficulty finding their first job to launch their
careers.

The millennial generation is talented, smart and hard-working, but doesn’t
have as many job opportunities as Clinton did when she was young, she said,
speaking at the annual UNLV Foundation dinner held to thank top donors to
the university.

As a result, young people are delaying launching careers of their choice,
buying their first homes and even getting married, she said.

“We have a lot more work to do if we want to unleash the full potential and
make sure more Americans feel they, too, have a future,” Clinton said to
applause. “That’s especially true for our young people. … Many Millennials
are still struggling … in a difficult job market.”

Clinton, a former secretary of state who is expected to run for president
in 2016 on the Democratic ticket, also said that post-graduation many
students are burdened by student debt “that can feel like an anchor
dragging them down.” This, too, puts their future at risk, she said.

Clinton praised President Barack Obama for increasing federal Pell grants
by $1,000 and working to cap student loan repayments at 10 percent of
discretionary income, but she said young people feel overwhelmed by debt
even as they struggle to find employment in their field of study.

“More needs to be done,” she said. “Higher education shouldn’t be a
privilege for those able to afford it. It should be an opportunity widely
available for anybody with the talent, determination and ambition” to learn.

Clinton said her family’s non-profit charity, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea
Clinton Foundation, has started a program “Job One” to partner private
business with higher education to help students.

In Nevada, she said, Barrick Gold has partnered with Great Basin Community
College and the Shoshone Tribe to develop education and job programs to
help students get more work experience.

“We think that first job is essential,” Clinton said. “I think our young
people deserve a fair shot. And Barrick Gold’s investment in Nevada is one
example … to prepare young people to compete.”

Clinton praised UNLV for deciding to open a medical school and aiming for
Tier 1 status as a university. And she urged the business community to get
more involved instead of just counting on government to help students. In
the end, she said, it will help companies’ bottom lines.

UNLV President Dan Snyder “has been known to say you can’t have a great
city without a great university. I think he’s right,” Clinton summed up.

After her 25-minute speech, Las Vegas Sun Publisher Brian Greenspun, a
Clinton family friend, gave the former first lady a pair of tennis shoes,
saying they were “running shoes,” a not so subtle hint that she should run
for the White House. It also evoked memories of a Las Vegas speech Clinton
gave in the spring during which a protester threw a pair of shoes at her,
which she ducked.

Before Clinton spoke, UNLV honored Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson for
donating $7 million to the university this past year for the hotel college,
his latest effort to support the school.

Adelson also is one of the most generous GOP political donors and would
likely support any Republican candidate who ran against Clinton if she runs
for president.

Clinton said she chatted backstage with Adelson and he told her, “I wish
they’d paired me with you to ask the questions. We could have a real
debate.”

“Well, that would certainly draw a crowd,” Clinton quipped. “I think you’d
need a boxing arena for that to be pulled off.”

More than 900 people attended the sold-out UNLV dinner at the Bellagio
where the top donor tables went for $3,000 to $20,000 each. The Foundation
raised more than $350,000 from top donors alone, and the annual UNLV dinner
was expected to make a profit, according to the university. UNLV also
raised nearly $235,000 from a pledge drive held during the dinner, the
university said.

The dinner also honored the late Kitty Rodman, a longtime UNLV supporter,
whose estate Monday donated a record high $12.9 million gift to the College
of Education. The money will support scholarships and graduate fellowships
for UNLV students studying special education.

Clinton was paid $225,000 for the hour-long event, including her speech and
question-and-answer session, a fee that has been criticized because it’s
coming from a non-profit educational foundation. UNLV student leaders also
have called on Clinton to donate her fee to the university instead of
giving it to her family’s Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Under Clinton’s contract, the UNLV event initially was closed to media
coverage. But she had a change of heart and last week UNLV said her 8
p. m. speech
would be open to press coverage.

Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have made $100 million from
speaking fees since leaving the White House in 2001. The high fees have
become an issue even before Clinton officially announces a presidential
run. Critics question whether she has lost touch with the middle class.

During her recent book tour, Clinton defended accepting high speaking fees
by noting that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the
White House.

Before the UNLV Foundation dinner, Clinton headlined a private Nevada
Democratic Party fundraiser where donors were asked to contribute from
$1,000 to $10,000 each. Money went to the state party and to U.S. Sen.
Harry Reid, D-Nev., for his 2016 re-election campaign.

*Denver Post: “Hillary Clinton campaigns for Sen. Mark Udall at Denver
Union Station”
<http://www.denverpost.com/election2014/ci_26721137/hillary-clinton-campaigns-sen-mark-udall-at-denver>*

By Lynn Bartels

October 13, 2014, 6:09 p.m. MDT

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton surprised travelers at Denver
Union Station when she and U.S. Sen. Mark Udall showed up Monday afternoon.

Clinton, the presumed frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for
president in 2016, talked to shoppers and laughed with a barista when she
ordered coffee as part her swing through various states to help Democratic
candidates.

The visit to Union Station came after Clinton appeared at the Brown Palace
for a fundraiser for Udall, who faces a tough election challenge from
Republican Congressman Cory Gardner. Ballots for the Nov. 4 election will
be mailed this week.

The Associated Press reported that while at Union Station, Clinton marveled
at the barista's ability to draw a pattern in the foam atop their
beverages; she got a smiling pig in honor of the shop's name, Pigtrain
Coffee Co., Udall, a well-known environmentalist, a leaf.

"Is that a marijuana plant?" Clinton asked, laughing, a reference to
Colorado's newly legalized recreational marijuana industry.

It was a return visit of sorts for Clinton.

In June, she and former President Bill Clinton chose Union Station's Great
Hall for an evening event venue while finishing touches of its renovation
were still under way, during the Clinton Global Initiative America
conference. Bigwigs dined on food specially prepared by chefs from Denver
restaurants and listened to music, weeks before Union Station's reopening.

Bill Clinton had been scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Udall on Sept.
27 but cancelled because of the birth of his granddaughter the night
before. He spoke to donors by speakerphone.

*Associated Press: “Hillary Clinton swings by Colorado to help Udall”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dc96f0a30a814f5388ae64ed1161ca5e/hillary-clinton-swings-colorado-help-udall>*

By Nicholas Riccardi

October 13, 2014, 7:39 p.m. EDT

DENVER (AP) — Hillary Clinton swung by Colorado to help out embattled
Democratic Sen. Mark Udall on Monday during a western swing in which she
also spoke of being a new grandmother.

Clinton held a closed-door fundraiser for Udall, who is facing a tough
challenge from Rep. Cory Gardner. They ordered coffee at Denver's
refurbished Union Station, and she paused to shake hands, posed for photos
and lent her political celebrity to the incumbent a day before ballots are
mailed to voters.

The former secretary of state was quick to beckon 10-year-old Macy Friday out
of the crowd of onlookers to pose for photos with her, her brother and her
father Derek, who introduced his mother Elaine, who had just arrived from
Ohio.

"Most important, she's the grandmother," Clinton said.

"You're a grandmother," Elaine Friday said.

"I know," said Clinton, whose daughter Chelsea gave birth to her first
child on Sept. 26. "Isn't it the best?"

As they grabbed coffees at a shop inside the station, Clinton and Udall
chatted about the next stop on her schedule — aMonday evening event for
Nevada Democrats in Las Vegas. The two discussed Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid.

"He's a good leader," Clinton said of Reid, who has been used by
Republicans to attack Democrats this year, including Udall.

Clinton also marveled at the barista's ability to draw a pattern in the
foam atop their beverages — she got a smiling pig in honor of the shop's
name and Udall, a well-known environmentalist, a leaf.

"Is that a marijuana plant?" Clinton asked, laughing, a reference to
Colorado's newly legalized recreational marijuana industry.

Clinton is in the middle of a trip to support Democrats in key races, with
stops in Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Udall can use her help. He's been deadlocked in the polls with Gardner
since the congressman hopped into the race more than six months ago.

Bill Clinton had been scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Udall on Sept.
27, but ended up appearing by speakerphone after the birth of his
granddaughter the night before.

*Elko Daily Free Press opinion: Gregg Potter: “Proud to have Hillary
Clinton at UNLV”
<http://elkodaily.com/commentary-proud-to-have-hillary-clinton-at-unlv/article_c5a48f1d-9ee8-58a5-bef1-8b126969ebdc.html>*

By Gregg Potter

October 13, 2014

As a proud graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, I am thrilled
that Hillary Clinton is speaking at the UNLV Foundation’s annual dinner
Monday night. She is one of the most well-known and respected women in the
world, and UNLV is lucky to have her. Her attendance will raise money for
the University, the Clinton Foundation, and will add to the long list of
work she has done to promote education in the United States and throughout
the world.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in early July that the UNLV
Foundation had already raised an impressive $353,000, and that it expects
to make a profit for only the third time in the event’s history.
Considering that was months ago, before individual tickets had even gone on
sale, there is no doubt the event will be a huge success. And there is no
doubt that Hillary Clinton will be the reason why.

The UNLV community won’t be the only one benefiting from Hillary’s
appearance -- the speaking fee is going directly to the Clinton Foundation,
her family’s charitable foundation that contributes about $20 million every
year to address the most critical problems facing people in this country
and all over the world, including education.

But Hillary Clinton has done so much more to promote education than just
raise money.

After law school, she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund, the country’s
leading child advocacy organization that strives to level the playing field
for all children by ensuring access to a quality education, among other
things. In Arkansas, she led the effort to reform the state’s educational
system and improve academic standards. In the Senate, she fought to expand
access to early childhood education for low-income children and make
college more affordable and accessible. As Secretary of State, she made
advancing education of girls around the world a major focus of U.S. foreign
policy. And now, through her work at the Clinton Foundation, she’s launched
the Too Small To Fail Initiative to close the achievement gap for
low-income children, and the CHARGE program to allow 14 million girls in
the developing world attend secondary school.

She’s taken real action that has made a real difference in the lives of so
many people – including me.

I grew up in a rural Wisconsin town of 400 people. My family, like most in
the town, didn’t have a lot of money. But my mother worked hard to provide
for my brother and me, and to ensure that we could have more opportunities
than she did. It’s what Hillary calls “the basic bargain of America: no
matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and play by the
rules, you will have the opportunity to build a good life for yourself and
your family.”

Even though UNLV is one of our country’s great public universities that
provides the quality education of a top-tier school without the exorbitant
price tag, I still couldn’t cover the costs on my own. Luckily, I received
a Pell Grant, which are need-based grants from the federal government that
do not have to be repaid. I took out student loans to pay for the remainder
of the costs.

Because of Hillary Clinton’s work in the Senate to increase funding to the
federal Pell Grant program and to reduce the burden of student loan debt, I
was able to receive a top-notch education without accumulating monstrous
debt.

And it allowed and – inspired me – to pursue my education further at the
Clinton School of Public Service, the nation’s first school to offer a
Master of Public Service degree. Stemming from Clintons’ commitment to
making the world a better place, the Clinton School combines academics with
hands on service projects. From the concepts I learned in the classroom to
my work to reduce the rejection of LGBT refugees in South Africa, the
Clinton School gave me the tools to create positive social change. After
graduation, I formed Project Kinect, to share those tools with other doers
and help them make a real impact.

There is no better person to speak about education than Hillary Clinton,
who has spent her entire career increasing educational opportunities for so
many people, including me. I know we all will welcome her with open arms.

*CNN: “GOP spotlights fees ahead of Clinton Vegas fundraisers”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/politics/clinton-nevada-republicans-money/index.html>*

By Dan Merica

October 13, 2014, 1:43 p.m. EDT

Republicans looking to fault Hillary Clinton hope the few hours the former
secretary of state will spend in Las Vegas on Mondaywill remind voters of
her less-than-perfect book roll-out and high-dollar speaking fees.

Clinton, who starts her day in Denver for a fundraiser with Sen. Mark
Udall, will make two appearances in Las Vegas on Monday. She will first
headline a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the Aria
Hotel and Casino, then the former secretary of state will keynote a
fundraiser or the The University of Nevada-Las Vegas Foundation at the
swanky Bellagio.

Republicans are seizing on the second speech, where Clinton, the
prohibitive favorite for the Democrats' presidential nomination in 2016,
will collect $225,000 for her appearance, according to event organizers.

Although a Clinton spokesperson argues that the fee will go straight to the
Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the former first lady's
appearance in Las Vegas on Monday was possibly the most controversial and
widely talked about paid speech Clinton was set to give this year.

"Clinton's Nevada Pay Day," said an email from the Republican National
Committee. "As Clinton's Long-Awaited Silver State Pay Day Arrives, A
Reminder Of The Troubles It Caused Her Would-Be Campaign."

"The much anticipated Hillary UNLV speech reminds us that Hillary's
exorbitant fees and travel requirements are going to be problematic on her
run for the White House," RNC Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski said in an
email.

When Clinton's appearance at the UNLV fundraiser was announced in June,
students at the university protested the fact the foundation was spending
money to bring Clinton in at the same time that their tuition was going up
due to budget issues.

"In keeping with Secretary Clinton's long-standing history of advocating
for students in higher education, we as student government leaders are
asking that she charitably donate part or all of the $225,000 speaking fee
she is reportedly making for this fundraising speech back to the UNLV
Foundation of UNLV as a whole," Elias Benjelloun, the UNLV student body
president, and Daniel Waqar, the student government's public relations
director, wrote in a letter addressed to Clinton's foundation.

The letter goes on to ask Clinton "to do what is right" and donate the
money. "This would be an incredible opportunity for Secretary Clinton to
remain true to her commitment to higher education," they write.

The students, however, never heard from Clinton or the foundation, but are
not planning to protest outside the event on Monday.

UNLV and Clinton have defended the event.

"Private donations secured by the UNLV foundation from donors funded her
speaking fee which was paid to the Harry Walker Agency," Afsha Bawany, a
spokesperson for UNLV, said over the summer. University administrators have
also argued that the money the event will bring in will far outweigh the
money paid the Clinton.

Clinton also told ABC News in August that "all of the fees have been
donated to the Clinton Foundation for it to continue its life-changing and
life-saving work."

That hasn't stopped Republicans from using the fees to knock Clinton's
comments on her personal wealth.

During the first interview of her book rollout Clinton argued that she and
her husband were "dead broke" when they left the White House in 2000. The
comment rang hollow, even to many Democrats, given that the Clintons went
on to make millions on the paid speaking tour and in book sales.

Republicans used fees like that from UNLV to constantly remind people of
Clinton's wealth and inarticulate comments for much of the summer.

"Greedy," said Tim Miller, executive director of America Risng, an
anti-Clinton super PAC. "Hey kids, I know that tuition is skyrocketing and
you all are loaded up with student debt but I'm going to go ahead and take
in $1.8 million from your universities for 8 hours of speeches anyway,"
Miller said in an email to reporters.

Reid, who Clinton will appear with on Monday, did not pile on, however, and
refused to criticize Clinton's UNLV speech.

"Anything we can do to focus attention on UNLV, that's extremely important
to do, and this certainly will focus attention on UNLV, and that's why they
have these people come," Reid told the Las Vegas Review Journal in June.

The Reid-Clinton relationship, especially in the context of Clinton's
possible 2016 bid, has been on full display in the last six months.

Reid sent a fundraising email for Ready for Hillary over the weekend,
touting Clinton as someone "doing everything she can" to help Democrats get
elected in 2016.

The Senate majority Leader also invited Clinton to headline his green
energy conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, where Reid said he had
"such admiration for the Clinton family."

"She's the best," Reid said of Clinton.

*Detroit News: “Hillary Clinton plans Oakland Univ. visit”
<http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/10/13/hillary-clinton-will-visit-oakland-university/17211837/>*

By Jim Lynch

October 13, 2014, 4:30 p.m. EDT

Hillary Rodham Clinton will arrive in Michigan Thursday to help boost two
high-profile Democrats in their election campaign pushes.

The former U.S. secretary of state and Democratic U.S. senator from New
York will appear in Rochester at Oakland University arena for a 3:30 p.m. event
with gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer and U.S. Senate candidate Gary
Peters. The event will be held at the O’Rena.

Tickets for the event are being offered free and will be available Tuesday at
several Michigan Democratic Party offices in Metro Detroit starting at 10
a.m. The locations:

■17243 Mack in Detroit.

■2642 E. Jefferson in Detroit.

■17100 W. 12 Mile in Southfield.

■29936 Orchard Lake in Farmington Hills.

■1205 N. Main in Royal Oak.

■4 N. Saginaw, second floor, in Pontiac.

■3518 Robert T. Longway Blvd. in Flint.

■29136 Ryan in Warren.

■33804 Schoenherr in Sterling Heights.

■23918 Cherry Hill in Dearborn.

■12844 Farmington Road in Livonia.

■3810 Packard, Suite 230, in Ann Arbor.

■2842 E. Grand River in East Lansing.

The visit follows high-profile events by other national politicians
including first lady Michelle Obama, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and a
visit Monday by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Elizabeth Warren Highlights
Hillary Clinton’s Goldman Problem”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/13/elizabeth-warren-highlights-hillary-clintons-goldman-problem/?KEYWORDS=hillary+clinton>*

By Peter Nicholas

October 13, 2014, 12:56 p.m. EDT

A large swath of liberals will be sorely disappointed if Sen. Elizabeth
Warren (D., Mass.) sits out the 2016 presidential election.

In Ms. Warren they see a feisty crusader for the underclass. When some
liberals look at Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, they see
instead a mainstream figure who is too cozy with the Wall Street firms that
helped trigger the financial collapse in 2008.

As it stands now, Mrs. Clinton is almost certain to run in ’16 and Ms.
Warren is likely to opt out.

But Ms. Warren isn’t shy about making known her view that the U.S.
political system is “rigged” in favor of powerful interests, an argument
that only makes the left pine for her all the more and keep the “Draft
Warren” movement alive.

In an interview with Ms. Warren published Sunday in Salon, Thomas Frank,
author of the book, “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” describes the freshman
senator as “the single most exciting Democrat currently on the national
stage.”

She offers a mixed assessment of President Barack Obama’s record. Though
she praised him for establishing a consumer bureau aimed at protecting
people from predatory lenders and rapacious credit card companies, she also
said his economics team aligned itself with Wall Street. One of Mr. Obama’s
top economic advisers was Lawrence Summers, who made millions of dollars
from the financial firm D.E. Shaw & Co. before joining the White House in
2009.

“They protected Wall Street,” Ms. Warren said. “Not families who were
losing their homes. Not people who lost their jobs. Not young people who
were struggling to get an education. And it happened over and over.”

She added: “At the same time, he [Mr. Obama] picked his economic team and
when the going got tough, his economic team picked Wall Street.”

Repeating a term she used in her Democratic presidential convention speech
in 2012, Ms. Warren said the political system is “rigged” in favor of
moneyed interests.

“It’s the armies of lobbyists and lawyers who are always at the table, who
are always there to make sure that in every decision that gets made, their
clients’ tender fannies are well protected,” she said.

At the same time, “there are very few people at the decision-making table
to argue for minimum-wage workers. Very few people.”

Ms. Warren took no swipes at Mrs. Clinton. Along with other women
Democratic senators, she has signed a letter supporting a Clinton
presidential bid. But she did take aim at Goldman Sachs GS -0.90%, a firm
with close ties to the Clinton family.

In the two decades since the Clintons arrived on the national political
stage, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has been the couple’s top Wall Street
contributor, kicking in nearly $5 million to various Clinton causes.

Ms. Warren said in the interview that banking “regulators all meet with
Goldman Sachs executives and employees day after day after day. They don’t
see the people who get tricked, the people who get cheated, the people who
get fooled by the products that Goldman turns out.”

*The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Warren inches away from Obama”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/220619-warren-inches-away-from-obama>*

By Peter Schroeder

October 14, 2014, 6:00 a.m. EDT

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is beginning to distance herself from
President Obama amid increased speculation about what role she wants to
play in 2016.

From charging that the president has “protected” Wall Street to voting
against the administration’s strategy for arming the Syrian rebels, Warren
is flashing an independent streak from her populist perch in the Democratic
Party.

“What she’s trying to do is influence the debate. She is not somebody who
is there to go along to get along,” said one financial industry lobbyist.
“If you … want to be effective but you don’t want to run for president,
then you do what she’s doing.”

Warren is in high demand as a campaign surrogate, and on Monday announced
she would spend the final three weeks before the November election visiting
some of the nation’s toughest Senate battlegrounds.

The campaign tour will take her to Colorado and Minnesota on behalf of her
colleagues Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Iowa,
where she’ll be looking to bolster the candidacy of four-term Rep. Bruce
Braley (D-Iowa).

“If doing everything we can for 22 days means we'll be able to spend the
next two years pressing forward in our fight to give just a little bit of
relief to single moms struggling on minimum wage, or to college students
getting crushed with loans, or to women who just want access to birth
control, then I'm ready for that fight,” Warren said.

Warren has already visited 15 states to campaign for Democratic Senate and
gubernatorial candidates, raising her profile at a time when liberal groups
are pleading with her to mount a challenge to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The senator has repeatedly ruled out a presidential run. Close observers
doubt that she would take on Clinton, but they say it’s clear that she’s
using her soapbox to try and pull the Democratic Party in a new direction.

“A rising populist tide is sweeping the country, and Elizabeth Warren is
the guiding light setting the example for others in the party,” said Laura
Friedenbach, spokeswoman for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
“Warren is right to call out the party's failures to take on Wall Street,
and we need more leaders in Congress like Warren who aren't afraid to stand
up on behalf of their constituents.”

The latest shot across the bow came over the weekend, when Warren told the
liberal media outlet Salon that Obama and his team “protected” Wall Street
from the repercussions of the financial crisis.

“He picked his economic team and when the going got tough, his economic
team picked Wall Street,” Warren said. “They protected Wall Street. Not
families who were losing their homes. Not people who lost their jobs. ...
And it happened over and over and over.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Warren credited the president for backing the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — her signature project before joining
the Senate — and said the GOP’s policies are the real problem.

"Democrats have not done all that they should, but at least we’re out there
fighting for the right things. We’re fighting and I think trying to pull in
the right direction," she said.

Still, Warren is not shy of bucking the tide.

She was among just a handful of Democrats to vote against a bipartisan
student loan compromise struck in the summer of 2013, arguing the
government was profiting on the backs of struggling students.

Warren was also one of only 10 Democrats to oppose a government funding
bill in September that gave Obama power to arm and train Syrian rebels,
airing concerns about the U.S. getting involved in another Middle Eastern
conflict.

Last fall, Warren was among a group of congressional Democrats who helped
scuttle the possible nomination of Larry Summers to head the Federal
Reserve.

But while she has broken with party leaders occasionally, Warren has not
adopted the pose of outside agitator, instead campaigning and fundraising
on behalf of Democratic candidates around the country.

Democrats are well aware of how potent Warren’s populist economic message
can be with voters, and have embraced it with their “fair shot” agenda for
the midterm elections.

Party leaders made Warren the face of one of Senate Democrats’ top
priorities this year, giving her the lead on a bill that would let
borrowers refinance for lower interest rates.

Observers say Warren’s outsized role for a freshman has already changed
some of the calculus in the Senate, as members are wary of getting on the
wrong side of one of her pet issues.

“It impacts how the Senate does things,” said the lobbyist. “Getting
Elizabeth Warren on board is a very big deal. … You’ve got to check that
box.”

*The Daily Beast: Sally Kohn: “Warren and Christie Are the Anti-Hillarys”
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/14/warren-and-christie-are-the-anti-hillarys.html>*

By Sally Kohn

October 14, 2014

[Subtitle:] Warren hits Obama on Wall Street. Christie tells the right
they’ll have to live with him as is. Wish Clinton had a little of that
moxie.

It’s no wonder that despite the obstacle of Bridgegate on the one hand and
the Hillary juggernaut on the other, rank-and-file voters across parties
remain energized by the prospect of either Chris Christie or Elizabeth
Warren running for president. In an era of politicians who are too cautious
to take a bold stand on much of anything except for when it comes to the
hyperbole of bashing the other party, Christie and Warren seem to be actual
human beings—most importantly, ones with actual convictions that they’re
willing to stand up for, even if it means standing against their own
parties. The contrast is even more stark in the context of Hillary Clinton:
Elizabeth Warren has forceful policies, Chris Christie a forceful
personality, but Hillary Clinton has neither.

In a recent interview with Salon, Warren doubled down on her criticism of
President Obama for letting Wall Street off the hook in the wake of the
2008 financial crisis. After Wall Street reckless crashed the entire United
States economy, costing millions of Americans their jobs, homes, and
savings, the Obama Administration put forward only modest financial reform
laws and didn’t prosecute a single culpable bank executive.

“[W]hen the going got tough, his economic team picked Wall Street,” Warren
said. “They protected Wall Street. Not families who were losing their
homes. Not people who lost their jobs. Not young people who were struggling
to get an education. And it happened over and over and over.”

Warren echoed criticism she lobbed at President Obama in her book, A
Fighting Chance, in which she cited Obama’s lack of action on comprehensive
financial reform as a significant “lost opportunity” to hold Wall Street
accountable and fix the structures of our economy to make it work for the
middle class.

Meanwhile, The New York Times published a story about Chris Christie’s
awkward courtship of evangelical Republicans. Christie actually siding with
the Religious Right on a number of fundamental issues is somehow
insufficient, the article accounts: “Although they are drawn to Mr.
Christie’s bumptious style, and believe that his opposition to abortion,
their chief priority, is deep-seated, they feel he has crossed them on
pivotal issues and at key moments.”

In other words, although anyone markedly more socially conservative than
Christie stands no realistic chance of being elected President of the
United States of America as the electorate becomes even more socially
liberal, the right of the right is so damned determined to police the
borders of its increasingly irrelevant influence that it is eschewing
Christie for not being right wing enough.

Christie’s attitude? According to the Times, “Asked about the depth of his
conservatism this spring, Mr. Christie replied, ‘I just act like myself and
people take it or leave it, and I’m completely content with that.’” It’s
the sort of attitude that, I’ll confess, makes Christie hard to dislike—in
spite of all his anti-teacher, anti-gay, anti-woman policies. And it’s the
sort of attitude that has allowed him even still be toying with the
presidency despite a year of seemingly disqualifying bad headlines.

Contrast both Warren and Christie with Clinton, the heir-apparent to the
presidency as far as all the polls (PDF) so far are concerned. Clinton is
cautious politically—trying, for instance, in her rhetoric to nod to the
economic populism of the day while maintaining her allegiances to Wall
Street. Or talking tough on foreign policy while trying to obscure the
depths of a pro-war hawkishness for which voters simply don’t have an
appetite.

And it doesn’t help that Clinton is also stylistically cautious—that every
sentence she produces seems like a dehydrated piece of fruit that’s then
been chewed up and spit out by three focus groups before being spoon fed in
its final bland and listless form to the American public. Sure, it’s easy
to get excited about the idea of Hillary Clinton—pioneering political
figure who would break the ultimate glass ceiling if elected. But Hillary
Clinton herself just ain’t exciting.

The tide of politics would seem to be leaving a Clinton-type behind as we
as a nation become more hyper-partisan and simultaneously more fixated on
big personality-driven characters, from real housewives to TV anchors to
the candidates for whom we vote. And yet just like Mitt Romney survived
(for a while) by being the last guy standing, Clinton may win out through
simple endurance in spite of all her counter-cultural downsides. Then
again, Mitt Romney’s primary opponents were perhaps a uniquely unqualified
group of self-destructive yahoos.

Christie and Warren are real threats to Clinton both in real political
terms, as potential opponents, but also conceptually in that their
political talent spotlights Clinton’s deficiency. Odds are that Warren
won’t run in 2016, but that she will wisely use the enthusiasm around her
gift for authentically connecting with the populist outrage of voters to
push an agenda with both Obama and Clinton, hopefully successfully nudging
both further to the left—away from big business and Wall Street and toward
middle class accountability.

On the other hand, Chris Christie will probably run—and the fact is that if
he manages to survive the Republican primary process, even though the
majority of American would side with Hillary Clinton especially on social
policy (Christie is indeed far to the right of most voters), he would still
pose a significant challenge because of his more winning personality.
Without any real challengers, Clinton may be able to pull off looking
populist and popular enough—but when the race gears up, the strengths of
other candidates will simply emphasize her weaknesses.

*Washington Post: “Can’t quit Mitt: Friends say Romney feels nudge to
consider a 2016 presidential run”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cant-quit-mitt-friends-say-romney-feels-nudge-to-consider-a-2016-presidential-run/2014/10/13/2cb19d12-52ee-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html>*

By Philip Rucker and  Robert Costa

October 13, 2014, 5:10 p.m. EDT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Officially, Mitt Romney returned to Iowa, the
quadrennial presidential proving ground, to give a boost to Joni Ernst. But
at a closed-door breakfast fundraiser here Monday, the first question from
a donor had nothing to do with Ernst’s Senate campaign.

“When you get elected to the Senate, your job should be to convince Mitt
Romney to run for president again,” a donor told Ernst, according to
several attendees. The Republican candidate said she would, while Romney
laughed.

When Romney and Ernst gathered in a West Des Moines boardroom with about 40
agriculture executives Sunday night, one businessman after another pleaded
with Romney to give the White House another shot.

And at a rally for Ernst in Cedar Rapids on Monday, the state legislator
who introduced Romney said, “If his address was 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I
would sleep a lot better.” After Romney and Ernst finished speaking, some
activists chanted, “Run, Mitt, run!”

Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and now the tacit head of the
Republican Party, visited Iowa as part of a feverish nationwide tour
designed to help the GOP take control of the Senate. He has insisted that
he is not interested in running for president a third time. But his friends
said a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity is nudging him to more
seriously consider it.

Romney has huddled with prominent donors and reconnected with supporters in
key states in recent months. Because of the vacuum of power within his
party and the lack of a clear 2016 front-runner, confidants said Romney is
grappling with this question: If drafted, would he answer the party’s call?

Further juicing the speculation was a Des Moines Register-Bloomberg News
poll released over the weekend showing that Romney is the only potential
2016 candidate who would beat Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) among likely Iowa
voters, 44 percent to 43 percent.

People in Romney’s vast political orbit who are waiting and wishing on him
to launch another campaign said Romney has done little to quiet them and
has been hazy about his plans following next month’s midterm elections.

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (R), who briefly ran against Romney
in 2012 before becoming a close ally, said he wants to see Romney give it
another go.

“There is a feeling that the country missed out on an exceptional
president,” Pawlenty said. “If he runs, I believe he could win the
nomination and the general election. It’d be the right person at the right
time, and I would encourage him to do it.”

Pawlenty noted that Ronald Reagan ran unsuccessfully for president twice
before being elected in his third attempt “and was stronger for it.” In
contrast with Romney, Pawlenty said, “the emerging class of Republican
candidates is untested and unproven.”

Within Romney’s political network, there has been informal chatter about a
third run since early 2013, according to people familiar with the
discussions. It bubbled up in phone calls and at dinners and has gained
steam this year. Requests continue to pour in for him to appear on the
campaign trail, and advisers said he is eager to mount a multi-state
fly-around swing beforeNov. 4.

In Iowa, however, Romney seemed uncomfortable with the 2016 talk. At the
West Des Moines rally, he spoke for only five minutes, criticizing
President Obama on income inequality, foreign affairs and other issues.
When reporters tried to question him afterward, he sneaked into a dark maze
of cubicles.

He also said that now that he was no longer a candidate, he had a joke to
share involving Obama, golfer Phil Mickelson and tennis great Andre Agassi.

As Romney told it, Obama shows up at a bank to cash a check without his ID.
The teller asks him to prove who he is, saying that Mickelson proved his
identity by hitting a golf ball into a cup and Agassi proved his by hitting
a tennis ball at a target. “Is there anything you can do to prove who you
are?” the teller asks.

“I don’t have a clue,” Obama replies in the joke.

The crowd ate it up.

Former aides and senior Republicans say Romney appreciates the GOP masses
crowing that he was right about issues such as Russia and health care. But
what really intrigues him, they said, are the vulnerabilities among
top-tier candidates in the Republican field. If Romney moves toward a race,
it would be because he sees a path to victory.

“It’s the market pulling him,” said Kent Lucken, a longtime friend and
adviser who accompanied Romney to Iowa. “People look at Hillary as the
likely Democratic nominee, and the party needs a strong leader who can
stand up to her and who’s been through the process.”

Romney is returning to Boston on Tuesday for a dinner that he and his wife,
Ann, are hosting for former campaign advisers and business associates. The
event — to benefit neurological research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital —
has Romney intimates abuzz.

Save-the-date notices have gone out for the third annual Romney policy
retreat in Park City, Utah, in June 2015 — a signal that he wants a
platform to promote his issues as the presidential primary campaign season
gets underway.

Romney is also mingling privately with top donors who could fund a third
campaign. Romney visited Sept. 23 with Joe Ricketts, a billionaire investor
who finances the Ending Spending super PAC, at Ricketts’s palatial
penthouse apartment covering the entire 78th floor of the Time Warner
Center in New York.

On Oct. 6, Romney also took part in a GOP fundraising dinner at the
Manhattan apartment of Woody Johnson, the New York Jets owner and former
Romney campaign finance chairman. Several 2016 hopefuls gave presentations
to the donors, while Romney served as a co-host and made no pitch.

At Johnson’s home, Romney and media magnate Rupert Murdoch spoke about
Romney’s political future. According to two Romney allies familiar with the
conversation, Romney was cagey with Murdoch but expressed concerns about
the developing GOP field. Romney told Murdoch that he felt uneasy about the
party’s non-interventionist drift on foreign policy and the base’s embrace
of ideological hard-liners.

Many Romney boosters believe that his window of opportunity will be in mid-
to late 2015, should Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) or Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) ascend
and party establishment types turn to Romney as a savior.

If former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) opts out of a campaign, “there is
going to be more pressure on Mitt to go,” said Tom Rath, an influential New
Hampshire Republican.

At a luncheon this month in Atlanta to help GOP Senate nominee David
Perdue, “people sat up and paid attention” to Romney, said Sen. Johnny
Isakson (R-Ga.). “I pulled him aside afterward to thank him for coming. He
said he’s not running, and I take him at his word. But I don’t think the
door is entirely closed, and circumstances can change.”

That phrase — “circumstances can change” — has been repeated by many Romney
backers since the former nominee used it to describe his own thinking about
2016 in a radio interview last month with Hugh Hewitt.

Spencer Zwick, Romney’s former national finance chairman, talks regularly
with Romney and said he has been receiving daily calls from donors and
other supporters. “There are still plenty of donors who hope circumstances
will change and there will be an opportunity for Romney to run again,” he
said.

Zwick is part of a slimmed-down inner circle, including longtime advisers
Beth Myers, Peter Flaherty, Stuart Stevens, Lanhee Chen and aides Kelli
Harrison and Matt Waldrip, who are advising Romney on political activities
this fall.

Romney traveled through Iowa with three trusted advisers and friends: David
Kochel, Ron Kaufman and Lucken. He also reunited with supporters from
campaigns past. In Cedar Rapids, Romney spotted Jim Wilson, a Virginia man
who logged more than 40,000 miles chasing the GOP nominee from coast to
coast in his campaign-festooned GMC pickup. The two hugged. “You son of a
gun,” Romney said.

Another fan, Gary Chidester, 64, came to the West Des Moines rally with a
full coterie of Romney paraphernalia for the former candidate to autograph:
campaign placards, enlarged photographs and buttons of Mitt and wife Ann,
and paperback and audio copies of Romney’s book “No Apology.” He also held
a framed drawing that a friend gave him of a black cruise ship named Obama
sinking into the sea and a white ship named Romney with the caption, “We’re
here to save you.”

“He’s the only qualified person to run this time,” Chidester said. “Mitt is
a business genius. That’s why I’ve listened to this tape three times. He
had it all down — he had Russia down, he had the debt down — and all the
other Republicans are novices by comparison.”

*CNN: “How many ways can Romney say no to 2016?”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/politics/romney-says-no-to-2016/index.html>*

By Ashley Killough

June 23, 2014, 12:08 p.m. EDT

With no clear frontrunner or obvious "next-in-line" candidate in the field
of potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders, Mitt Romney keeps getting
asked if he's thinking about throwing his hat in the ring one more time.

But it's not entirely a far-fetched question.

A poll of New Hampshire Republicans and independents who lean that way
found that Romney would be the 2016 frontrunner if he decided to run.

The 2012 GOP nominee has done little to stay out of the limelight,
especially this year, as he gets involved in numerous races — including GOP
primaries — and keeps up a fairly regular routine of media appearances.

He has assumed a sort of party elder role, and just finished hosting close
to 300 major donors and politicians at his third annual Park City retreat.

He was asked as recently as last week on "Meet the Press" if he would still
turn down another presidential bid -- even if drafted.

The former Massachusetts governor has been accused of flip-flopping in the
past, but he's been pretty consistent on his future: He's a "no."

1. "I'm not running, and talk of a draft is kind of silly."

-- June 15, 2014, on NBC's "Meet the Press"

2. "I'm far from a kingmaker. I'm just one of those that wants to keep the
conversation going and fighting for things I think will make a difference
for my 22 grandkids...I'm not running."

-- June 13, 2014, on Fox "Your World with Neil Cavuto"

3. "The unavailable is always the most attractive, right? That goes in
dating as well."

-- June 13, 2014, to The Associated Press

4. "I'm thinking about the people who I want to see running for president.
... I fully anticipate that I'll be supporting one of them very vigorously."

-- March 23, 2014, on CBS' "Face the Nation"

5. "I'm not running for president. We've got some very good people who are
considering the race. And I'm looking forward to supporting someone who I
think will have the best shot of defeating whoever it is the Democrats put
up."

-- February 16, 2014, on NBC's "Meet the Press"

6. "The answer is no, I'm not running for president in 2016. It's time for
someone else to take that responsibility and I'll be supporting our
nominee."

-- February 5, 2014, on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"

7. "I've had my turn, I gave it two good shots, didn't win and now it's
time for someone else to do it. I'm not running for president. I made that
clear the morning after the last loss."

-- February 5, 2014, on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer"

8. "Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no."

-- January 18, 2014, to the New York Times

9. "I loved it. But look, I want to make sure that we take the country in a
different direction. I think that Chris Christie and Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush
and Scott Walker, and the list goes on, have a much better chance of doing
that, and so I will support one of them as they become the nominee."

-- January 18, 2014, to the New York Times

10. "You know it was a fabulous experience, I loved it. But we're not doing
that again."

-- November 15, 2013, on CBS' "This Morning"

11. "I'm optimistic a Republican is going to win in 2016. But I'm not going
to be that guy. It will be somebody else that takes ... that mantle. And
more power to them. I hope I can help them in some way."

-- June 2013, to CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger

12. "I won't get a third chance. I'm not doing it again. ... I'm not
running for office. I don't have a big organization that's out speaking in
my behalf."

-- March 3, 2013, on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace"

Oh, and Ann Romney is done, too.

"I think I'm over it. Life is good. Life moves on. There's
woulda-coulda-shouldas, of course, that you feel all the time. But no, our
life is wonderful and I'm very happy right now, in a good place."

-- January 31, 2014, on Fox News with Bill Hemmer

*Calendar:*

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

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

·  October 15 – Louisville, KY: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Alison Lundergan
Grimes (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/alison-lundergan-grimes-hillary-clinton-111779.html>
)

·  October 16 – MI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rep. Gary Peters and Mark
Schauer in Michigan (AP
<https://twitter.com/KThomasDC/status/520243743170236416>)

·  October 20 – 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>
)

·  October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Senate
Democrats (AP
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month>
)

·  October 24 – RI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rhode Island gubernatorial
nominee Gina Raimondo (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-gina-raimondo-rhode-island-elections-111750.html>
)

·  November 2  – NH: Sec. Clinton appears at a GOTV rally for Gov. Hassan
and Sen. Shaheen (AP
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month>
)

·  December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of
Conservation Voters dinner (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-green-groups-las-vegas-111430.html?hp=l11>
)

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