Subject: ​Correct The Record Thursday October 16, 2014 Morning Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:50:13 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Thursday October 16, 2014 Morning Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*Courier-Journal: “Grimes rallies crowd with Hillary Clinton”
<http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2014/10/15/grimes-rallies-crowd-hillary-clinton/17334425/>*

“In many ways, the speech seemed like it could serve as a starting point
for another presidential campaign by Clinton. It was peppered with her
beliefs and even talked about returning to a time like when her husband was
in office when Republicans and Democrats worked together.”

*New York Times: “In South, Clinton Tries to Pull Democrats Back Into the
Fold”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/us/in-south-clinton-tries-to-pull-democrats-back-into-the-fold.html?rref=us&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Health&action=keypress&region=FixedRight&pgtype=article>*

“The demand for Mrs. Clinton — she has already been asked back to campaign
again for Ms. Grimes — only underscores the racial and class divisions in
the Democratic Party that emerged in 2008 and have been exacerbated during
Mr. Obama’s presidency, and which Mrs. Clinton would need to bridge if she
runs for president again in 2016.”

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Running From Obama: Grimes
Declares Kentucky Is ‘Clinton Country’”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/16/running-from-obama-grimes-declares-kentucky-is-clinton-country/>*

“Former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton was the marquee
speaker at the rally – and the person Mrs. Grimes suggested she’d rather
see at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

*Bloomberg: “Hillary Clinton Attempts to Rescue Alison Lundergan Grimes”
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-16/hillary-clinton-attempts-to-rescue-alison-lundergan-grimes>*

“A day after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced plans
to pull its Kentucky television ads, Clinton came to Louisville for a rally
with Grimes.”

*Lexington Herald-Leader: “In Louisville, Hillary Clinton implores
Democrats to 'send Alison to Washington'”
<http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/15/3483253_in-louisville-hillary-clinton.html?sp=/99/322/&rh=1>*

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined more than 4,000 of Alison
Lundergan Grimes' supporters for a rallyWednesday night as Democrats were
eager to rebut the narrative that Grimes' campaign was struggling down the
stretch in her U.S. Senate race against incumbent Mitch McConnell.”

*The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hillary Clinton's complicated relationship
with Mitch McConnell”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/220885-hillary-clintons-nuanced-relationship-with-mcconnell>*

“But when she traveled to the state four years ago, she struck a much
softer tone when speaking about the Republican incumbent whom Democrats
paint as the ‘obstructionist in chief.’”

*CNN: “Pro-Clinton group adds $2 million to its war chest”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/politics/ready-for-hillary-third-quarter/index.html>*

“Ready for Hillary, the super PAC urging Hillary Clinton to run for
president in 2016, raised over $2 million and had 21,000 new donors in the
last three months, officials from the group said Wednesday.”

*Politico: “$2M quarter for ‘Ready for Hillary’”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/ready-for-hillary-fundraising-111933.html#ixzz3GHT0Ld9y>*

“The amount means the group has raised more than $10.25 million overall,
primarily through small donations.”

*CNN: “Is Hillary Clinton ready for marijuana's 2016 push?”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/hillary-clinton-marijuana/index.html>*

“It is 2016, when voters will also have to decide who they want in the
White House, that marijuana activists feel could be the real tipping point
for their movement.”

*Politico: “Scoring Hillary Clinton’s politics”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/scoring-hillary-clintons-politics-111935.html>*

“Political watchers have spent years debating whether Hillary Clinton is a
liberal Democrat, or center-left. Steve Hilton, a former adviser to British
Prime Minister David Cameron, says the answer is simple: It depends.”

*Politico: “Tales from a Clinton impeachment leader”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/asa-hutchinson-2014-arkansas-election-111922.html>*

“Hutchinson declined repeatedly to assess a potential Hillary Clinton 2016
candidacy or to say whether he’d be a surrogate for the eventual GOP
nominee. He skirted questions about his party’s criticism of her on issues
like the Benghazi attacks. ‘This race is about Arkansas, not about what
happens three years from now, it’s about what happens next year,’
Hutchinson said.”

*CNN: “With an Eye to 2016, Bill Clinton Campaigns in New Hampshire”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/bill-clinton-2016-new-hampshire/>*

“Clinton's visit appears to be buoying many Democrats already. With news of
his headlining appearance, 1,200 people have purchased tickets to the
Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the biggest crowd since the state party revived
it as a fall fundraising event in 1991. Normally 400-450 Democrats attend.”

*Articles:*

*Courier-Journal: “Grimes rallies crowd with Hillary Clinton”
<http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2014/10/15/grimes-rallies-crowd-hillary-clinton/17334425/>*

By Joseph Gerth

October 15, 2014, 11:37 p.m. EDT

Continuing to make her case that she is a Clinton Democrat, Senate
candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes appearedMonday night in Louisville with
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former presidential candidate and secretary of
state.

Together, the two rallied a crowd of 4,500 at the Kentucky International
Convention Center.

"Alison is the right leader at the right time with the right plan to
deliver for Kentucky's hard-working families," said Clinton, the wife of
former President Bill Clinton who nearly won the Democratic nomination for
president six years ago.

In a 32-minute speech, Clinton ripped U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, with whom
she served with in the Senate, for his positions on various issues ranging
from pay equity to student loan debt to raising the minimum wage.

She ended each passage with the same refrain, "You know what you have to
do, send Alison to Washington."

At one point, a man sitting in the far away bleachers could be heard
yelling, "We love you Hillary."

Clinton was a prize "get" for Grimes as she tries to capitalize on the
popularity of the Clinton name in Kentucky, even as McConnell tries to
connect her to President Barack Obama, who is deeply unpopular in Kentucky.
Grimes has said she voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic
primary but has avoided saying whether she voted for President Obama in the
2008 and 2012 general elections.

Bill Clinton has already been to the state twice to rally the Democratic
troops and raise money for Grimes, and her campaign hopes to get him back
again.

Hillary Clinton recalled trips to Kentucky, including dipping a bottle of
Maker's Mark in wax in Loretto in 2008 as well as, as a friend of Grimes'
father, Jerry Lundergan, visiting their old homestead in Maysville.

Grimes noted that she has known Clinton since she was 14 years old. What
she didn't say is that she handed the Clintons flowers when they stepped
out of their limousine at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993.

"She will never forget how she was raised and the people who helped her
along the way," Clinton said of Grimes.

Before the rally — the biggest of the race so far for Grimes — Clinton
headlined a $1,000 to $2,600 per head fundraiser at the 21c Hotel about
five blocks away.

The event didn't have the feel of a flagging campaign as the media has
suggested in recent weeks. Grimes has come under fire for refusing to say
who she voted for for president in the 2008 and 2012 general elections, and on
Wednesdaythe Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee stopped buying ad
time in the state.

The DSCC pushed back on Wednesday morning with DSCC executive director Guy
Cecil tweeting that he had just signed a $300,000 check to help the
get-out-the-vote effort in Kentucky.

"That's an interesting view of 'pulling out of the race,' " he wrote.

Grimes appeared to take a jab at the DSCC, noting at one point during her
speech that the race wouldn't be decided by political operatives in
Washington.

"Washington abandoned us a long time ago," she said.

Grimes mentioned Obama, but only to say that he wasn't on the ballot.

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, who spoke earlier in the program,
gave a rousing defense of the president, at one point blaming McConnell for
losses in the coal industry over his 30-year career — saying that it wasn't
the fault of Obama.

A long line of enthusiastic supporters began filing into the convention
hall when the doors opened at 5:30. The room was set up to accommodate the
large crowd and looked like a mini-political convention with narrow,
horizontal signs signifying each of Kentucky's 120 counties.

Confetti also was shot into the air at the conclusion of Clinton's speech.

Grimes noted that she raised a record $4.9 million in the latest
fundraising quarter. But she still trails McConnell, who has raised more
than $28 million. Grimes has raised just over $16 million.

"Big ideas and big hearts beat big money every single time," Clinton told
the boisterous crowd.

She asked the crowd if they had seen Monday's debate on Kentucky
Educational Television, the only debate of the election, and said, "You
could not have a clearer contrast between solutions for Kentucky's families
and Washington double-talk."

Clinton also touted Grimes' job plan, which calls for improving education
and providing job opportunities for military veterans.

But in many ways, the speech seemed like it could serve as a starting point
for another presidential campaign by Clinton. It was peppered with her
beliefs and even talked about returning to a time like when her husband was
in office when Republicans and Democrats worked together.

She recalled Bill Clinton talking about "building a bridge to the 21st
Century" but said today's Republicans seem intent on tearing it down.

*New York Times: “In South, Clinton Tries to Pull Democrats Back Into the
Fold”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/us/in-south-clinton-tries-to-pull-democrats-back-into-the-fold.html?rref=us&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Health&action=keypress&region=FixedRight&pgtype=article>*

By Amy Chozick

October 15, 2014

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The last time Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigned in
Kentucky, she was delivering her victory speech after defeating Barack
Obama in the state’s 2008 Democratic presidential primary on the strength
of a huge advantage among white working-class voters.

White Democrats voted for Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Obama by 49 percentage
points in 2008, a telling indication of both her strength and Mr. Obama’s
trouble in attracting traditional Democratic voters.

When Mrs. Clinton returned here on Wednesday to campaign for the Senate
candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, a family friend, it was that appeal that
Kentucky Democrats hoped would give Ms. Grimes a needed boost in her
underdog campaign against Senator Mitch McConnell. The demand for Mrs.
Clinton — she has already been asked back to campaign again for Ms. Grimes
— only underscores the racial and class divisions in the Democratic Party
that emerged in 2008 and have been exacerbated during Mr. Obama’s
presidency, and which Mrs. Clinton would need to bridge if she runs for
president again in 2016.

Mr. Obama is so unpopular in Kentucky that Ms. Grimes will not even say
whether she voted for him. In a debate on Monday evening, Ms. Grimes cited
“privacy at the ballot box” when asked again about it, though she has
freely acknowledged voting for Mrs. Clinton in 2008 and at Wednesday’s rally
called Kentucky “Clinton country.”

 Many Democrats said Mr. Obama never made efforts to repair the divides
that became apparent that year, leaving states like Kentucky and Arkansas
vulnerable to a Republican rout.

“I think if Hillary Clinton were in the White House today, McConnell would
be behind by 20 points,” said Todd Hollenbach Sr., a former Jefferson
County judge executive whom Mr. McConnell unseated in 1977.

But after four years serving as secretary of state in the Obama
administration and nearly two years living in New York with a packed
schedule of paid speeches, book signings and charity galas, Mrs. Clinton
will need to reintroduce herself to the blue-collar voters here and
elsewhere who have become further alienated from the Democratic Party
during the Obama administration. “I will never forget the time I spent
crisscrossing the state in 2008 and all of the determined, hardworking
people I met along the way,” Mrs. Clinton said.

“Well, tonight I’m back,” she added.

Besides Wednesday night’s speech, Mrs. Clinton will talk about middle-class
jobs on Thursday in Michigan at campaign events for two Democrats,
Representative Gary Peters and former Representative Mark Schauer. Before
the midterm election, Mrs. Clinton will also campaign in Georgia for
Michelle Nunn, the Democratic nominee for Senate, and in New Hampshire for
Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan.

“When she speaks about issues of economic opportunity, particularly when
she speaks about economic opportunity for women and for families, she does
it in a way that really connects,” said Mo Elleithee, the national
communications director at the Democratic National Committee who worked on
Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 campaign.

That message helped Mrs. Clinton defeat Mr. Obama here by 35.6 percentage
points in the state’s 2008 primary; only in Arkansas did she win a wider
margin of white voters. By then, Mr. Obama had already won the delegates
necessary to effectively secure the nomination, but in her victory speech
in Louisville, Mrs. Clinton vowed to stay in the race until Democrats had a
nominee, “whoever she may be.”

In the past six years, this state like much of the country has become more
politically polarized. At the same time, fond memories of the Clinton
administration — many of the voters who supported Mrs. Clinton did so
because of their affection for Bill Clinton, who carried Kentucky in 1992
and 1996 — have faded.

Kentucky voters identified with Mr. Clinton because of his rural Arkansas
roots and centrist politics. Mrs. Clinton largely resonated here because of
“the Bill factor,” said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural
Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. “It’s been a
while, so she does need to reintroduce herself,” he added.

Jonathan Miller, a former Kentucky state treasurer, said it was voters’
animosity toward Mr. Obama, and not necessarily excitement for Mrs.
Clinton, that was energizing Democrats here. “We’re just nostalgic for when
Democrats were different than Obama,” he said.

Kentucky Republicans have tried to remind voters that Mrs. Clinton worked
in the Obama administration and cannot easily escape association with the
unpopular president.

In the debate on Monday, Mr. McConnell pushed back on Ms. Grimes’s
associating herself with Mr. Clinton’s style of centrist policies. “There’s
not a dime’s worth of difference between a Clinton Democrat and an Obama
Democrat,” Mr. McConnell said.

The Clintons have been particularly invested in the long-shot Kentucky
race. Mr. Clinton is friends with Ms. Grimes’s father, Jerry Lundergan, a
local entrepreneur and former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Mr. Clinton has campaigned frequently for Ms. Grimes, whom the Clintons
have known since she was 14 years old, and made his first television ad
this election cycle on her behalf.

“This is a young woman who knows where she came from,” Mrs. Clinton said.
“She will never forget how she was raised and the people who helped her
along the way.”

In her speech, Mrs. Clinton defended the impact the Affordable Care Act has
had on Kentuckians and railed against congressional Republicans for the
current gridlock in Washington.

“More than any other race in the country,” Mrs. Clinton said, “this
election in Kentucky is a referendum on the future.”

A theme of the evening was shattering the glass ceiling, and Mrs. Clinton
spoke extensively about raising the minimum wage and equal pay for women.

Ms. Grimes, 35, has sparred with the 72-year-old Mr. McConnell on gender
issues, including seizing on a Republican operative’s comment that Ms.
Grimes was an “empty dress” because her campaign lacked specifics.

The rally at the Kentucky International Convention Center drew about 4,500
people and was one of Mrs. Clinton’s riskier midterm efforts. Until
recently, she seemed a reluctant and cautious surrogate, more focused on
fund-raisers in Washington and New York than stepping out on the stump.

But that changed recently as her schedule has picked up and Democrats face
a reality in which they could lose control of the Senate. Despite requests,
as of Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton did not plan to return to Kentucky. This week
the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee stopped funding ads on Ms.
Grimes’s behalf.

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Running From Obama: Grimes
Declares Kentucky Is ‘Clinton Country’”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/16/running-from-obama-grimes-declares-kentucky-is-clinton-country/>*

By Peter Nicholas

October 16, 2014, 7:19 a.m. EDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –  It’s no secret that Democrats running for Senate in deep
red states aren’t pining for a visit from the leader of the party.

Just how toxic President Barack Obama has become was evident in a rally
Wednesday when Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes
said she won’t be sorry to see him go when his term is up.

Ms. Grimes scarcely mentioned Mr. Obama in her speech, except to say he
won’t be on the ballot in the November election. Instead, she showered
praise on the last Democratic president – Bill Clinton.

Less than one minute into her appearance she proclaimed that Kentucky is
“Clinton country.”

Former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton was the marquee
speaker at the rally – and the person Mrs. Grimes suggested she’d rather
see at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“This  election is not about who’s in the White House now,” Ms. Grimes
said. Mr. Obama, she added, “has two more years. This is a six-year term.
It’s about the senator that will work for the next four years with whomever
is in the White House, no matter he – or she – might be.”

Ms. Grimes is in a delicate spot, running an underdog campaign against the
longtime Republican incumbent, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The
Real Clear Politics average of polls in Kentucky shows Mr. McConnell with a
three-point lead.

With Mr. Obama’s approval ratings sagging across the board, Ms. Grimes is
doing all she can to distance herself from the unpopular president.

Mr. Obama won’t be showing up in Kentucky any time soon and Ms. Grimes
won’t say whether she voted for him in 2012.

In her speech , she spent no time discussing what Mr. Obama’s supporters
see as his signature achievements: Helping end the recession, overhauling
the health-care system and imposing new regulations on large financial
firms.

Instead, she touted Mr. Clinton’s economic record in the 1990s. She said
Mr. Clinton presided over “the largest economic expansion that the nation
has ever seen.”

“I am a Clinton Democrat and that’s the kind of senator I will be,” Ms.
Grimes said.

Left unsaid in her speech is that when it comes to major domestic goals,
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton aren’t far apart. Both favor an increase in the
minimum wage. Both want more money spent on road, bridge and public works
projects. And both see Mr. McConnell as an obstacle to legislative progress.

When it was her turn to speak, Mrs. Clinton praised the health-care
overhaul ushered in by Mr. Obama in 2010.

Mrs. Clinton mentioned that Ms. Grimes favors improvements in the state’s
infrastructure, singling out the Brent Spence Bridge, which spans the Ohio
River.

“She’ll back common sense improvements to infrastructure that will get
Kentucky’s economy moving again, like the Brent Spence Bridge,” Mrs.
Clinton said.

Yet Mr. Obama has called attention to that same aging bridge. In 2011, he
traveled to the Brent Spence Bridge and urged that it be updated, as part
of a larger $50 billion jobs package.

Calling out Mr. McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), the
president said, “Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us repair this bridge.”

Mr. Obama’s jobs package went nowhere in Congress.

*Bloomberg: “Hillary Clinton Attempts to Rescue Alison Lundergan Grimes”
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-16/hillary-clinton-attempts-to-rescue-alison-lundergan-grimes>*

By Lisa Lerer

October 15, 2014, 11:40 p.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] Kentucky's struggling Senate candidate brings in a powerful
friend.

LOUISVILLE, KY -- National Democrats have gone tepid on her. Progressive
groups are attacking her. Latino leaders are condemning her campaign. But
there's at least one powerful force in the Democratic Party sticking by
Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes: Hillary Clinton.

A day after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced plans to
pull its Kentucky television ads, Clinton came to Louisville for a rally
with Grimes.

"You know this race is too close to call and it all comes down to who shows
up,'' Clinton told a convention hall packed with cheering supporters.
"Let's put another crack in that glass ceiling and elect this incredible
young woman to the United States Senate."

Grimes is challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and her
backers seemed undaunted by the latest campaign setbacks as they roared
chants of "Mitch Doesn't Care" at a rally they called "McConnell's
retirement party." Campaign Manager Jonathan Hurst released a memo to
reporters on Wednesday saying that the media is overstating the importance
of the DSCC decision.

"The 15-month campaign plan we've put together and ridden to a statistical
tie entering the final 20-day stretch of the election remains in place," he
wrote. "The race will remain airtight and come down to turnout."

The Grimes campaign is banking on the Clinton appearance to motivate a key
democratic group: women voters. Whether Democrats can stave off a major
drubbing this November will depend, in large part, on female turnout. That
battle has been front and center in Senate races in Colorado, Iowa,
Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky, where Grimes has hammered McConnell for
being hostile to women's issues.  Supporters waved "shatter the glass,
break the ceiling," signs, a slogan repeated by female senators in a video
introducing Grimes at the rally.

"You want to know what a freshman senator can do, you just look at Senator
Clinton's record. That's what a senator can do and should do in
Washington,'' said Grimes, standing beside two huge screens broadcasting
her image to the crowd. "You are ready for an independent strong Kentucky
woman who can set the partisanship aside and won't be bullied by Mitch
McConnell."

Clinton, who is considering a second presidential bid, endorsed Grimes,
saying she would fight for equal pay, raising the minimum wage, health care
and other policies to help working families.

"I'm back for one reason and that’s because Kentucky deserves a change in
Washington," said Clinton. "And I think you agree with me: Alison is the
right leader, at the right time, with the right plan to deliver for
Kentucky's hard-working families."

Grimes has a history with the former first family. Her father, former state
party chairman Jerry Lundergan, is a longtime Clinton friend. As a
14-year-old in 1993, Grimes handed President Clinton a bouquet of roses
while attending his inauguration events. Bill Clinton helped convince
Grimes to enter the race and campaigned with her earlier this year.

"I am a Clinton Democrat and that’s the kind of senator that I will be,"
Grimes said, referencing her backing for Clinton and refusal to say whether
she voted for President Barack Obama.

While both the Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super-PAC, and the DSCC
have reserved no airtime in the state, officials say they're continuing to
invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in get out the vote efforts.

Grimes is under attack from the progressive wing of the party for an ad
aired by her campaign that attacks McConnell for backing immigration
legislation in the 1980s—calling it "amnesty"—and referring to undocumented
immigrants as "illegal aliens." Democracy for America, led by former
Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and Latino organizations have demanded she
pull the spot.

"To see a candidate from either party use this kind of language in
advertising is unacceptable in 2014,'' said Cristobal Alex, head of the
Latino Victory Project. "We condemn this attempt by Alison Lundergan Grimes
to play ugly politics with an issue so important to our community and the
nation."

Her polling numbers have been sinking, showing McConnell with a small lead,
and she opened herself up to fresh attacks earlier this month with her
refusal to say whether she voted for Obama. NBC's Meet the Press host Chuck
Todd said she "disqualified herself," a statement that quickly ended up in
a McConnell ad.  Grimes supporters tried to turn that into a benefit: a
fight with another Washington insider.

"This election is not going to be won by some party hacks in Washington or
words that come out of Chuck Todd's goatee," Kentucky Attorney General Jack
Conway told the crowd.

*Lexington Herald-Leader: “In Louisville, Hillary Clinton implores
Democrats to 'send Alison to Washington'”
<http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/15/3483253_in-louisville-hillary-clinton.html?sp=/99/322/&rh=1>*

By Sam Youngman

October 15, 2014

LOUISVILLE — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined more than
4,000 of Alison Lundergan Grimes' supporters for a rally Wednesday night as
Democrats were eager to rebut the narrative that Grimes' campaign was
struggling down the stretch in her U.S. Senate race against incumbent Mitch
McConnell.

"I do believe Kentucky is Clinton country," Grimes said to wild applause.

Clinton took the stage at the Kentucky International Convention Center to a
thunderous welcome, saying it was good to be back in the Bluegrass and
remembering the time she spent in the state during the 2008 presidential
primary, noting that she still smiles "when I think of that bottle of
Maker's Mark that I dipped into the red wax."

"Well, tonight, I'm back," Clinton said. "I'm back for one reason, and
that's because Kentucky deserves a change in Washington."

"Let's put another crack in that ceiling and send this incredible young
woman to the United States Senate," Clinton said.

With Clinton possibly running for president in 2016, the event took on a
presidential feel, and the crowd seemed as enthused about a possible White
House run by Clinton as it was by the prospect of defeating McConnell, the
Senate minority leader.

The hall was decorated to look like a presidential nominating convention,
and signs posted throughout the seating area denoted each of Kentucky's 120
counties, similar to the setting of a national convention where each
state's delegation is marked by a sign.

After a parade of state Democrats warmed up the crowd, with Attorney
General Jack Conway and state Auditor Adam Edelen calling Clinton "the next
president of the United States," Grimes introduced the former first lady as
"a woman who has literally known me since I was 14 years old."

Grimes continued to fight the notion pushed by McConnell that she would be
a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama, saying again that Obama isn't on
the ballot.

"I am a Clinton Democrat, and that's the kind of senator that I will be,"
Grimes said. She added: "This election, it's not about who's in the White
House now."

Clinton echoed Grimes' criticisms of McConnell, following her attack lines
by telling the crowd that the best way to change the nation's capital was
to "send Alison to Washington."

While not mentioning McConnell by name, Clinton blasted his positions on
health care and the minimum wage while recalling the economic successes of
her husband's administration.

The event could not have come at a better time for Grimes as Tuesday was
dominated by news that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was not
renewing its ad buy in the state, and a number of left-leaning groups
condemned the Grimes campaign for running an ad in which she said she would
never give "amnesty or benefits for illegal immigrants."

Though the DSCC tried Wednesday to convince reporters that it wasn't
abandoning the state, pointing to $300,000 for Grimes' ground game, the
candidate cited last week's Bluegrass Poll, which showed her leading
McConnell by 2 points, and said she didn't need the DSCC's help, framing
the election as "Kentucky versus Washington."

"We are ahead not because of Washington, D.C., insiders," Grimes said.
"Washington abandoned us a long time ago."

With McConnell having released his fundraising numbers earlier in the day,
Grimes appeared thrilled to tell the crowd, "we've out-raised the Mitch
McConnell money machine yet again by nearly $1.5 million."

After days of enduring questions from the national media about why she
refused to say whether she voted for Obama, Grimes included a shot at Chuck
Todd, moderator of NBC's Meet the Press.

McConnell included Todd in a campaign ad after the well-known analyst said
that Grimes had "disqualified herself" by refusing to answer the question.
Grimes responded Wednesday night by saying that Washington needs a "woman
who won't be bullied by Mitch McConnell or Chuck Todd."

Allison Moore, McConnell's spokeswoman, said in a statement that "the only
possible reason why Alison Grimes would throw a party for Hillary Clinton
but refuse to admit she voted for Barack Obama is that she thinks we're all
too stupid to figure out they have the exact same policy views."

"Instead of highly produced events with celebrity guests, most Kentuckians
would settle for an honest answer from Alison Grimes on anything related to
the job of a U.S. senator," Moore said.

While both Grimes and Clinton avoided direct mentions of Obama, U.S. Rep.
John Yarmuth was eager to defend the president, pointing to the economic
crisis Obama walked into at the start of his administration.

"Nobody has inherited a tougher job than Barack Obama did," Yarmuth said,
adding that Kentucky's job losses are "on your head, Senator."

"It's not on President Obama's head," Yarmuth said.

*The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hillary Clinton's complicated relationship
with Mitch McConnell”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/220885-hillary-clintons-nuanced-relationship-with-mcconnell>*

By Alexander Bolton

October 15, 2014, 5:10 p.m. EDT

Hillary Clinton is expected to take some hard shots at Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell when she campaigns with his opponent, Alison
Lundergan Grimes, in Kentucky on Wednesday.

But when she traveled to the state four years ago, she struck a much softer
tone when speaking about the Republican incumbent whom Democrats paint as
the “obstructionist in chief.”

Clinton, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, praised McConnell effusively
when she spoke at the University of Louisville in April 2010 while serving
as secretary of State.

McConnell invited her to discuss nuclear nonproliferation at the McConnell
Center’s spring lecture series.

At the time she hailed McConnell’s cooperation with the Obama
administration on an array of foreign policy issues.

“During the eight years that I served in the Senate with Mitch, I was
fortunate to find common cause and work with him on a number of foreign
policy issues: human rights in Burma; legislation to support small
businesses and micro-credit lending in Kosovo; promoting women and civil
society leaders in Afghanistan; strengthening the rule of law in parts of
the Islamic world,” she said, according to a transcript posted on the State
Department’s website.

“And I’ve appreciated working with him in my new capacity upon becoming
secretary of State,” Clinton added.

The glowing remarks somewhat undercut Grimes’s campaign narrative that he
is an unrepentant obstructionist.

"Sen. McConnell's 30-year record? It's gridlock. It's obstruction. It's
extreme partisanship," Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of State, said at a
debate Monday night.

Clinton acknowledged that she and McConnell often clashed fiercely on
domestic policy but touted him as a helpful partner on national security
issues where they found common ground.

“Back in Washington these days, our policy discussions can get pretty
lively. We can both vouch for that, both Sen. McConnell and I, because
anybody who’s turned TV during the last few months will remember some of
the heated exchanges,” she said. “But in foreign policy, we have a long
tradition of coming together across party lines to face America’s toughest
national security challenges.”

Grimes’s allies argue that Clinton’s remarks highlighting areas where she
worked together with McConnell do not in any way conflict with her advocacy
for his defeat.

Merely praising the GOP leader’s record on human rights in Burma does not
imply an endorsement of his other positions or broader record in the
Senate, they say.

“There’s nothing wrong with being collegial and working together. Secretary
Clinton felt at the time that Sen. McConnell brought positive aspects to
his job as they worked together, but overall she thinks Sen. Grimes would
be better for the United States and for Kentucky,” said Bob Gunnell, a
Democratic strategist based in Kentucky.

Clinton is scheduled to appear with Grimes on Wednesday evening at the
Kentucky International Convention Center. It will be her first campaign
appearance with Grimes in Kentucky.

Former President Bill Clinton has already traveled to the state to help
Grimes.

*CNN: “Pro-Clinton group adds $2 million to its war chest”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/politics/ready-for-hillary-third-quarter/index.html>*

By Dan Merica

October 15, 2014, 11:02 p.m. EDT

Ready for Hillary, the super PAC urging Hillary Clinton to run for
president in 2016, raised over $2 million and had 21,000 new donors in the
last three months, officials from the group said Wednesday.

Ready for Hillary's haul came from more than 38,000 contributions,
according to group spokesman Seth Bringman, giving the group an average
contribution of $52.

The $2 million is in line with what Ready for Hillary has raised in the
past, but slightly less than the record $2.5 million the group raised in
the second quarter.

Ready for Hillary is part of a cadre of pro-Clinton outside groups that are
organizing for Clinton's likely run at the presidency. Unlike other super
PACs, which are focused on communications and large-money donors, Ready for
Hillary has tried to focus on small, grass-roots donations. So far, the
group has raised over $10 million.

But in the third quarter of 2014, Ready for Hillary also moved to do more
than just raise money and began to raise its profile in the eyes of many
longtime Clinton confidants by having a large presence at events like
September's Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa.

Led by former Clinton aides and supporters, the super PAC also began to
dish out money to state parties, local candidates and other Democratic
groups, as well as helping raise money for 2014 candidates whom Clinton has
endorsed.

After Clinton endorsed Bruce Braley in Iowa, for example, the group blasted
out an email to its supporters asking them to donate money to the
Democrat's Senate campaign.

Ready for Hillary also maxed out contributions during the third quarter to
Vincent Sheheen, South Carolina's Democratic candidate for governor, Bakari
Sellers, the state's Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and the
South Carolina Democratic Party.

Donating money to state parties has been a Ready for Hillary strategy for
much of the year. Last month, a source with the group said Ready for
Hillary had donated thousands of dollars to 29 state parties. Most of these
donations were close to $10,000, the maximum the group can give to a state
party.

Part of this stepped up involvement in early states is in reaction to the
fact that other possible 2016 Democrats are already making moves there, too.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley moved political staff into South Carolina in
August and has been raising money for state Democrats for months. Vice
President Joe Biden also has been heavily involved with helping local South
Carolina politicos raise money since 2013.

Ready for Hillary began sending political staff to 14 states -- including
Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire -- on October 1.

*Politico: “$2M quarter for ‘Ready for Hillary’”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/ready-for-hillary-fundraising-111933.html#ixzz3GHT0Ld9y>*

By Maggie Haberman

October 15, 2014, 11:03 p.m. EDT

The pro-Hillary Clinton low-dollar super PAC “Ready for Hillary” raised
more than $2 million in the third fund-raising quarter of this year,
officials with the group said, as they prepared to file financial
disclosure forms.

The amount means the group has raised more than $10.25 million overall,
primarily through small donations.

It outraised Organizing for Action, the remainder of the Obama campaign
apparatus, and took in more than 38,000 contributions in the three-month
period ending on the last day of September.

The group has been primarily involved in list-building activities, with the
intent of swapping it with an eventual Hillary Clinton campaign, or selling
it at market rate.

*CNN: “Is Hillary Clinton ready for marijuana's 2016 push?”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/hillary-clinton-marijuana/index.html>*

By Dan Merica

October 16, 2014, 6:43 a.m. EDT

When Hillary Clinton graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 -- where the
future first lady and Secretary of State says she did not try marijuana --
only 12% of Americans wanted to legalize the drug.

In 45 years, however, the tide has changed for legalization: 58% of
Americans now want to make consumption legal, two states (Colorado and
Washington) already have and two more states (Oregon and Alaska) could join
them by the end of the year.

Despite their growth in approval, many activists see 2014 as a smaller, but
important, step to their end goal. It is 2016, when voters will also have
to decide who they want in the White House, that marijuana activists feel
could be the real tipping point for their movement.

"There will certainly be even more on the ballot in 2016," said Tamar Todd,
director of marijuana law and policy and the Drug Policy Alliance. "More
voters coming to the polls means more support for marijuana reform and in
presidential election years, more voters turn out."

Demographics and money are also an important consideration. Big donors who
are ready to fund pro-legalization efforts are more loose with their money
in presidential years, according to activists, while Democrats and young
people are more likely to turn out. This means legalization activists will
be better funded to reach the nearly 70% of 18 to 29 year old Americans who
support legalization.

On paper, activists feel their plan will work. But it is one yet to be
decided factor -- who Democrats will nominate for president in 2016 -- that
could throw a wrench into their push.

Hillary Clinton is the prohibitive favorite for the Democrats' nomination,
but to many in the marijuana legalization community, she is not the best
messenger for their cause.

"She is so politically pragmatic," said Alan St. Pierre, the director of
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "If she has to
find herself running against a conservative Republican in 2016, I am
fearful, from my own view here, that she is going to tack more to the
middle. And the middle in this issue tends to tack more to the conservative
side."

Making a concerted push during a presidential election year means
activists' goals will be directly contrasted with the Democrats'
presidential standard bearer. This happened in 2004, when more conservative
voters helped tip the presidential election for President George W. Bush at
the same time that 11 states had anti-gay marriage questions on the ballot.

Clinton has moved towards pro-legalization, though.

Earlier this year, during a town hall with CNN, she told Christiane
Amanpour that she wants to "wait and see" how legalization goes in the
states before making a national decision. At the same event, she cast some
doubt on medical marijuana by questioning the amount of research done into
the issue.

Later in the year, Clinton labeled marijuana a "gateway drug" where there
"can't be a total absence of law enforcement."

"I'm a big believer in acquiring evidence, and I think we should see what
kind of results we get, both from medical marijuana and from recreational
marijuana before we make any far-reaching conclusions," Clinton told KPCC
in July. "We need more studies. We need more evidence. And then we can
proceed."

This is more open, however, than in 2008 when Clinton was outright against
decriminalization, a step that is less aggressive than legalization.

Despite warming on the issue, Clinton's position is concerning to activists
like St. Pierre because he feels they are far from solid.

"If reforms keep picking up... the winds in our sails are clear," he said.
"But if we lose one of more or all of those elections this year, cautious
people around her could make the argument that this thing has peaked and
you now have to get on the other side of it."

St. Pierre said he also watched -- laughing -- as Clinton tried to
personally distance herself from marijuana at the CNN town hall.

"Absolutely not," Clinton said when asked if she would try the drug. "I
didn't do it when I was young, I'm not going to start now."

"I will eat both of my shoes," he said, 'if she and Bill didn't trip their
nuts off at Wellesley and Oxford."

What's more, some activists spoke highly of Democrats with executive
experience like Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who spent eight years as
mayor of Baltimore.

O'Malley, who is also entertaining a run at the presidency in 2016,
supports medical marijuana and approved a Maryland law that decriminalized
possession of small amounts of the drug in 2014.

"As a young prosecutor, I once thought that decriminalizing the possession
of marijuana might undermine the Public Will necessary to combat drug
violence and improve public safety," O'Malley said in a statement at the
time. "I now think that decriminalizing possession of marijuana is an
acknowledgement of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our
police, and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this
transgression of public order and public health."

As for where the governor is on legalization, Lis Smith, his top political
adviser, said as long "as long as it is consistent with the goal of driving
down crime," O'Malley is "open to sensible drug policy."

With an eye on 2016, some activists are starting to contrast that view with
Clinton.

"I think in 2016 there is going to be a number of states with legalization
initiatives on the ballot and there will be broad support," Todd said. "I
don't see standing behind and defending the status quo of this destructive
policy as helping a candidate in the 2016 election."

Clinton has come face-to-face with some aspects of marijuana policy on her
trips to stump for Democrats across the country.

While raising money in Colorado for Sen. Mark Udall earlier this week,
Hillary Clinton saw marijuana in her coffee. Pointing to the foam design
atop Udall's latte, Clinton said, "Look at you, you got like a plant. Is
that a marijuana plant?"

To laughs from the baristas at PigTrain Coffee, some who may have seen that
the design looked more like a rose than marijuana, one answered jokingly,
"That's exactly what it is."

*Politico: “Scoring Hillary Clinton’s politics”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/scoring-hillary-clintons-politics-111935.html>*

By Maggie Haberman

October 16, 2014, 5:12 a.m. EDT

Political watchers have spent years debating whether Hillary Clinton is a
liberal Democrat, or center-left. Steve Hilton, a former adviser to British
Prime Minister David Cameron, says the answer is simple: It depends.

Hilton, the founder of Crowdpac , a site that scores politicians based on
different factors, ran Clinton’s donor history from her three runs for
office — two in the Senate and one presidential — and her votes in the
Senate from 2000 to 2008, and came up with a mixed picture on a scale that
ranks people based on being liberal, or conservative. “10L” is the most
liberal score and “10C” is the most conservative.

Clinton, much of the time, ranks somewhere in the middle of the liberal
scale, according to data that Crowdpac ran through its ranking system.
Clinton is not currently listed on its website since she isn’t a declared
candidate for office. So, the focus of the data was on where she left off.

“For years, pundits have debated whether Hillary Clinton is a liberal, a
centrist, or even slightly conservative. Turns out: it depends on the
issue,” said Hilton. “She’s often to the right of the average Democrat in
Congress but to the left on some cornerstone issues, like health care.

“By analyzing her years in the Senate — her votes, her rhetoric, and her
donor history, we found that Secretary Clinton is a dyed-in-the-wool
progressive on health care, fair elections, and the environment and
moderate on defense, banking, and immigration. But when it comes to some
surprising issues like gender equality and student loans, she shares more
with conservatives than you would think.”

For instance, on abortion, Clinton got a 4.6L, while the average Democrat
in Congress gets a 6.4L. On the environment, she scores closer to average,
at 6.32L. Elsewhere, the scores are less indicative — Clinton ranked a 3.23
on gender equality, an issue she has focused on extensively in the State
Department and at her family’s foundation. But a number of votes on
gender-rights legislation took place once she’d left Congress. On student
loans, an issue she focused on in 2007, she gets a 3.79L.

On health care and immigration, she gets strong marks, a 6.95L and a 5.34L,
respectively. Her fulls scores and their congressional comparisons are here.

The scores are an example of the type of work Crowdpac, which Hilton
launched when he moved to the U.S. and became immersed in Silicon Valley,
can do in the upcoming presidential cycle and the next midterms.

“The idea is to help level the playing field. … to give objective
information,” said Hilton in an interview. “It’s a combination of objective
information.”

His goal was to give people more information about the people they are
electing than just what they see in high-dollar ads and in direct mail.
When he moved to California with his wife, who works for Google, he saw the
chance to combine his interest in politics with policy.

People often say, “What difference does it make if I get involved?” Hilton
said. His hope was to create a site in which people could use different
algorithms to better understand the people they are considering supporting.

Typically, a score is also based on a candidate’s public speeches. In
Clinton’s case, that hasn’t been blended into her scoring yet. Her most
recent speeches, however, have focused on the new Democratic populism,
meaning there could be a change.

*Politico: “Tales from a Clinton impeachment leader”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/asa-hutchinson-2014-arkansas-election-111922.html>*

By Katie Glueck

October 16, 2014, 5:05 a.m. EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As a federal prosecutor in the 1980s, Asa Hutchinson
sent Bill Clinton’s brother to jail. As a member of Congress in the late
1990s, Hutchinson steered impeachment proceedings against the president
from his home state.

But to hear him tell it now, Hutchinson — likely the next governor of this
state — has the utmost respect for Hillary Clinton, and he’s downright fond
of Bill.

That posture is a testament to the enduring power of the Clinton name here.
But it’s also driven by the complicated relationship Hutchinson has had
with Clinton dating back to the 1970s, long before they faced off over
Monicagate or became household names in Arkansas politics.

Now the favorite to defeat Democratic candidate Mike Ross in the governor’s
race, Hutchinson has the potential to be a serious thorn in both Clintons’
sides if Hillary Clinton runs for president as expected. But in a 40-minute
interview here, the 63-year-old Hutchinson showed little interest in
becoming a surrogate for Clinton antagonists.

If their opposing political parties make them adversaries by default,
Hutchinson made clear he harbors no grudge against the Clintons — even if
the former first couple’s allies hold one against him.

“I ran in 1996 for Congress, and [Bill Clinton] came in and campaigned, of
course, for my Democratic opponent,” Hutchinson recalled with a smile.
“He’s always been on the other side from a political standpoint,” adding
that Clinton’s fervor for politics, even as he nears age 70, is “something
that’s perhaps even refreshing to see.”

To say Clinton has “always been on the other side” may be an
understatement. In Congress, Hutchinson, a member of the House Judiciary
Committee, chose to serve as one of the House managers handling Clinton’s
impeachment — something many Democrats here have never gotten over.

About 10 years after the impeachment, Hutchinson told The Associated Press
that he initially wasn’t interested in joining the proceedings, though many
of his colleagues on Judiciary were spearheading the effort. And though
reports from the time indicate that Hutchinson wasn’t as excited about the
impeachment drive as some of his fellow Republicans, he opted to play a
central role in it just the same.

“I’m grateful for this opportunity, although it … comes with deep regret to
be before you,” Hutchinson told senators in the opening remarks of his
impeachment presentation in 1999. But then he proceeded to dive in,
outlining the “seven pillars of obstruction” Clinton allegedly perpetrated.

“I knew it wasn’t good politics for Arkansas, being the president’s home
state,” he said a decade later, reflecting on the impeachment experience in
the AP interview. But he concluded that “I could actually help our country
go through a difficult time, and so I accepted that responsibility
reluctantly.”

“Anybody who observed me at that time knows I was just trying to help the
country through a difficult time,” Hutchinson added during the interview
with POLITICO last week.

To which many Arkansas Democrats respond: Please. They were outraged then
and say they haven’t forgotten that Hutchinson chose to help prosecute the
president who put their state on the map.

“There’s no love lost, that’s for sure,” said Little Rock’s Democratic
Mayor Mark Stodola, a longtime Clinton supporter. “There’s a substantial
number of people who believe Asa did not have to go do that extra step by
being part of the impeachment team, that the piling on was gratuitous
coming from Arkansas.”

A spokesman for Bill Clinton did not return a request for comment on the
former president’s relationship with Hutchinson.

Hutchinson was courteous, if somewhat reserved, during the interview last
week, joining a reporter in a dark-paneled conference room in a building
that houses his campaign headquarters after walking his grown daughter —
whose child stars in one of Hutchinson’s best-received ads — to the door.
The former congressman, who is 6 feet 1 inch, sat tall, with his thinning,
nearly white hair neatly combed back, and invited the interviewer to “ask
me anything you’d like.” There was no fire-breathing rhetoric: Hutchinson,
trained as a lawyer, talked about Arkansas and his opponent in a cool,
analytical tone. And when he didn’t want to discuss a subject — like
Hillary Clinton — he declined to answer questions witha broad smile.

Hutchinson’s brother, Tim Hutchinson, lost his Senate seat in 2002 to
Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor, as Democrats called Tim Hutchinson a
hypocrite for vocally backing impeachment even as he divorced the mother of
his children to marry a much younger staffer. Now Pryor is locked in one of
the closest Senate races of the year against GOP Rep. Tom Cotton.

Asa Hutchinson, who represented a conservative district in an otherwise
Democratic-tilted state, escaped the impeachment politically unscathed
(though there were rumblings of anger from some constituents at the time).

Skip Rutherford, the dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the
University of Arkansas and a longtime friend of the former president, said
he doesn’t think people “wake up in the middle of the night and pace the
floor over it. But do they recall it? Yeah. I recall it.”

Ross, Hutchinson’s opponent, has brought up impeachment on occasion, though
in an interview with POLITICO, Ross said his campaign is “not about
reliving the past.” Clinton campaigned for the Democratic ticket in
Arkansas last week and will do so again over the weekend.

Hutchinson and Bill Clinton first encountered each other at the University
of Arkansas Law School in the 1970s, when Hutchinson was a student and
Clinton, fresh out of Yale Law School, was teaching (though he was not
Hutchinson’s professor). Hutchinson’s politics hadn’t yet jelled: He
recalled going door-to-door for David Pryor, the former Democratic senator
and governor of Arkansas, who is the father of Mark Pryor.

As it turned out, that was the last time Hutchinson campaigned for a
Democrat, he said, but his interactions with Clinton continued.

“Our paths crossed [again] when I was U.S. attorney and he was governor at
that time,” Hutchinson said of Bill Clinton in the interview. I remember
him calling my home [about] this terrorist group up in northern Arkansas.
We worked together [on a stand-down].”

In the 1980s, Hutchinson, then a Reagan-appointed U.S. attorney, “had the
unfortunate responsibility” of prosecuting Clinton’s half-brother, Roger,
who eventually went to jail on drug charges. But in the former president’s
memoirs, published after he left office, Clinton wrote that the jail time
probably saved Roger Clinton’s life — and he had praise for Hutchinson’s
conduct.

“Asa Hutchinson was professional, fair and sensitive to the agony my family
was experiencing,” Clinton wrote. “I wasn’t at all surprised when later he
was elected to Congress from the Third District.”

Hutchinson was for a long time one of a handful of Republican voices in a
Southern state with a strong Democratic tradition. As Clinton climbed the
ranks, Hutchinson lost three statewide races.

“Whether it’s Dale Bumpers” — the beloved former senator, to whom
Hutchinson lost in 1986, and who delivered the final speech on behalf of
Clinton in the impeachment proceedings — “or Bill Clinton, they’ve had a
very strong farm team, and populist-type candidates on the Democratic
side,” Hutchinson said.

In the early 1990s, Hutchinson served as state GOP chairman while Clinton
was governor.

“So we’ve always been very respectful adversaries, respectful political
adversaries,” he said. “That’s how I viewed that relationship.”

In 1996, Hutchinson won his first House race. His opponent was Ann Henry, a
personal friend of the Clintons who hosted the couple’s wedding reception
at her home; her top campaign strategist was also Clinton’s former chief of
staff, according to a report from the time.

From the House, Hutchinson was appointed by President George W. Bush to
serve as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. His
nomination sailed through the Senate on a 98-1 vote, with Hillary Clinton,
then a senator, voting yes.

She “did me the great honor of supporting my confirmation,” Hutchinson
said. And after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the two had “very
professional” interactions when he served as undersecretary in the
Department of Homeland Security and she was in the Senate.

Hutchinson declined repeatedly to assess a potential Hillary Clinton 2016
candidacy or to say whether he’d be a surrogate for the eventual GOP
nominee. He skirted questions about his party’s criticism of her on issues
like the Benghazi attacks. “This race is about Arkansas, not about what
happens three years from now, it’s about what happens next year,”
Hutchinson said.

“I think they’ve looked at me as somebody who’s very committed to our
country,” he later said of the Clintons. “We have different viewpoints, I
respect them the same ways. And so I would just urge anybody who’s worried
about the past to take the same fair approach and look at my heart.”

*CNN: “With an Eye to 2016, Bill Clinton Campaigns in New Hampshire”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/16/politics/bill-clinton-2016-new-hampshire/>*

By Brianna Keilar

October 16, 2014, 6:09 a.m. EDT

In early 2000, shortly after Al Gore beat Bill Bradley by a
too-close-for-comfort four points in the state's first-in-the-nation
primaries, Ray Buckley, then a New Hampshire state legislator, swung
through Washington to have breakfast with a friend in the Clinton
administration.

As he sat in the White House mess eating pancakes, Buckley was shocked when
an aide brought him a note that said President Bill Clinton wanted to see
him in the Oval Office. He didn't know Clinton was even aware he was
visiting.

"He started grilling me on what towns Gore did well in and didn't do well
in. He didn't have a paper in front of him, he just knew. He was asking me
'Why didn't Al do better in Amherst?' His understanding of the political
landscape of New Hampshire is just amazing," Buckley, now the chairman of
the New Hampshire Democratic Party, told CNN.

Clinton is taking that enthusiasm for the Granite State, generated in no
small part by the dramatic successes he and his wife have historically
secured here, to the state party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Manchester on
Thursday, raising money and encouraging voters in his party to get to the
polls on election day.

Incumbent Gov. Maggie Hassan has the most comfortable lead in the polls
among Democrats running for federal office in New Hampshire. Reps. Carol
Shea-Porter and Ann Kuster are in more competitive races as they try to
hang onto their House seats. But it's Sen. Jeanne Shaheen who is getting
the most attention. The longtime Clinton ally is running statistically even
with Republican Scott Brown, the former senator from Massachusetts, in a
race that could determine the balance of power in the senate.

"Bill Clinton is probably the best person for Shaheen," says Neil Levesque,
the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and
Political Library at Saint Anselm College. "He's custom made for a state
like New Hampshire that really appreciates someone who can get into the
issues."

Clinton's visit comes one day after Mitt Romney campaigned alongside Brown
and with Democratic activists here growing more and more anxious (the state
legislature's return to Republican control looks like a foregone conclusion
already) it's just in time.

"The concern is if there's anxiety bordering on depression about the bad
news not just in New Hampshire but nationally that might stop an activist
from working as hard as they might to get out the vote," says Dante Scala,
professor of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire.

Clinton's visit appears to be buoying many Democrats already.

With news of his headlining appearance, 1,200 people have purchased tickets
to the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the biggest crowd since the state party
revived it as a fall fundraising event in 1991. Normally 400-450 Democrats
attend. This year, some attendees will be watching Clinton from an overflow
room and the normally seated dinner has been scrapped for an earlier
buffet-style meal followed by Clinton's speech to a crowd in a
theater-style seating arrangement.

New Hampshire has always been friendly to the Clintons and they're not
going to neglect the state as Hillary Clinton eyes another presidential run.

In 1992, just a few days after a tabloid broke a story about Bill Clinton's
affair with an Arkansas state employee named Gennifer Flowers, a surprise
second place finish in the New Hampshire primary kept Clinton's
presidential prospects alive. He famously declared that January evening,
"New Hampshire has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid," and went on to win
the state in the general election as well.

In 2008, when Hillary Clinton trailed Barack Obama by double digits in the
lead up to the New Hampshire primary, she teared up at a Portsmouth coffee
shop as she told a voter who asked how she was faring on the trail, "I just
don't want to see us fall backwards. This is very personal for me. It's not
just political." The next day, she answered Obama's crushing Iowa caucus
win with a three point victory in New Hampshire, telling her supporters at
her victory rally, "Now let's give America the kind of comeback New
Hampshire has just given me."

Hillary Clinton will campaign here the weekend before the election, hoping
to make a last minute move for Sen. Shaheen and Gov. Hassan.

By then, most voters will have made up their minds. But strategists say
Clinton can make an effective play for undecided female voters, especially
with incumbent Democratic women up and down the ballot.

"She could win this race for Shaheen," says Levesque. And if she does, the
Clintons are betting New Hampshire will remember that in 2016.

*Calendar:*

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

·  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>
)

·  October 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton speaks at the launch of The
International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (CNN
<https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/522470101749342208>)

·  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/>)