Subject: ​Correct The Record Sunday November 23, 2014 Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 14:20:03 -0500
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Sunday November 23, 2014 Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*New York Times: “G.O.P.-Led Benghazi Panel Bolsters Administration”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/middleeast/republican-led-benghazi-inquiry-largely-backs-administration.html>*

"'The effort to turn the Benghazi tragedy into a political scandal never
had a factual basis,' said David Brock, founder of Correct the Record, a
group that defends Mrs. Clinton in the news media, and author of the e-book
'The Benghazi Hoax.' ... 'The Republican committee report should close the
case,' he added. 'If the scandal persists into 2016, it will only be for
partisan reasons.'"

*ABC News: “Top Hillary Clinton Supporters Gather to Plot, Strategize”
<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/11/top-hillary-clinton-supporters-gather-to-plot-strategize/>*

“The attendees at the event included Correct the Record’s David Brock and
Burns Strider, who were invited guests to last weekend’s 10th anniversary
event for the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, as
well as political strategists Harold Ickes, James Carville and Paul Begala.”

*Newsday: “Hillary Clinton eulogizes lawyer Thomas A. Twomey Jr. in East
Hampton”
<https://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituaries/hillary-clinton-eulogizes-lawyer-thomas-a-twomey-jr-in-east-hampton-1.9645065>*

“Hillary Rodham Clinton eulogized prominent environmental lawyer Thomas A.
Twomey Jr. at his funeral in East Hampton on Saturday, recalling how he
helped her connect with everyday Long Islanders and win her Senate seat
from New York in 2000.”

*Associated Press: “Obama: Americans want 'new car smell' in 2016”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5e45b15d8f0944709eaf8a064a048d2e/obama-americans-want-new-car-smell-2016>*

"He said a number of possible Democratic candidates would make 'terrific
presidents,' but Hillary Clinton is the only one he mentioned by name. He
said she would be a 'formidable candidate' and make 'a great president' if
she decides to run a second time."

*CNN: “Sen. Lindsey Graham: GOP-led Benghazi report is 'full of crap'”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/23/politics/lindsey-graham-benghazi-report/index.html>*

“Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, has some harsh words for the
recently released Benghazi report, led by his own party. ‘I think the
report is full of crap,’ Graham told Gloria Borger on CNN's ‘State of the
Union’ on Sunday.”

*The Hill blog: Briefing Room: “GOP-led Benghazi report purposely buried in
news cycle, Democrat says”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/225129-gop-led-benghazi-report-purposely-buried-in-news-cycle-democrat>*

“A GOP-led investigation that debunked theories about the 2012 Benghazi
attack was purposely released on the Friday before Thanksgiving to evade
exposure, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday.”

*New York Times: “A Deep 2016 Republican Presidential Field Reflects Party
Divisions”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/us/politics/a-deep-2016-republican-presidential-field-reflects-divisions-in-age-and-ideology.html>*

“As Democrats signal that they are ready to rally behind Hillary Rodham
Clinton before their primary season even begins, allowing them to focus
their fund-raising and firepower mostly on the general election, the
Republicans appear destined for a free-for-all.”

*Articles:*

*New York Times: “G.O.P.-Led Benghazi Panel Bolsters Administration”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/middleeast/republican-led-benghazi-inquiry-largely-backs-administration.html>*

By Michael S. Schmidt

November 22, 2014

WASHINGTON — A report released late Friday about the fatal 2012 attacks in
Benghazi, Libya, left Republicans in the same position they have been in
for two years: with little evidence to support their most damning critiques
of how the Obama administration, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton, responded to the attacks.

Similar to five other government reports, the one released by the House
Intelligence Committee on Friday said that the administration had not
intentionally misled the public about what occurred during the attacks in
talking points it created for officials to use in television appearances
that turned out to be inaccurate.

It also said that no order was given by the military to “stand down” in
responding to try to save the four Americans killed in the attacks, a claim
that Republicans have made based on the account of a member of the security
team in Benghazi that day.

Coming six months after Speaker John A. Boehner created a separate special
committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks, the report raised questions
about what that panel might uncover that the Intelligence Committee — whose
chairman, Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan, is leaving
Congress — and the other investigations missed.

The special committee that Mr. Boehner created is led by Representative
Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, who has a budget of $3.3 million
for the investigation.

Mr. Gowdy, in a written statement, said that his committee had reviewed the
latest findings along with the other reports. “It will aid the select
committee’s comprehensive investigation to determine the full facts of what
happened in Benghazi, Libya, before, during and after the attack and
contribute toward our final, definitive accounting of the attack on behalf
of Congress,” he said.

Democrats have asserted that the special committee was created by
Republicans only to try to discredit Mrs. Clinton, who is expected to seek
the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

“The effort to turn the Benghazi tragedy into a political scandal never had
a factual basis,” said David Brock, founder of Correct the Record, a group
that defends Mrs. Clinton in the news media, and author of the e-book “The
Benghazi Hoax.”

“The Republican committee report should close the case,” he added. “If the
scandal persists into 2016, it will only be for partisan reasons.”

While the report backed up many of the administration’s longstanding claims
that its response was proper, it agreed with the other reports that
criticized the State Department for having inadequate security at the
compound where the ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed.

“The State Department security personnel, resources and equipment were
unable to counter the terrorist threat that day and required C.I.A.
assistance,” it said.

The panel’s findings reflected well on the intelligence apparatus,
particularly the Central Intelligence Agency. The agency “ensured
sufficient security” for its facilities in Benghazi and “without a
requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted the State Department on the
night of the attacks,” according to the report.

“Their actions saved lives,” the report said.

The report said the C.I.A. did not have an “intelligence failure” in the
months before the attacks. In fact, the report said, the agency had
increased its security because of intelligence reports showing that attacks
had intensified in the area.

In the course of the investigation, the committee reviewed thousands of
pages of intelligence assessments, cables, emails and other documents, and
it interviewed many senior intelligence officials and people who were on
the ground during the attacks — including eight security personnel who
responded to them, it said.

Republican lawmakers have said that the administration, fearing political
fallout from the attacks — which occurred on Sept. 11, 2012, less than two
months before the presidential elections — tried to mislead the public.

In particular, the Republicans have said that Susan E. Rice, who was the
ambassador to the United Nations at the time, lied on several Sunday
television talk shows when she said the attacks were set off by a protest
over an anti-Muslim video. They claimed that she glossed over whether the
fatalities were the result of “terrorist” attacks by Al Qaeda because that
would have undermined the administration’s narrative that it had all but
defeated the group.

The panel found that in the days after the attacks, there was contradictory
intelligence about what precipitated them and who was behind them.
Ultimately, Ms. Rice’s assertions were wrong, the committee said, but there
was no evidence that the administration was attempting to misconstrue the
facts.

Even today, the report said, the government is still uncertain about much
of what happened that day.

“Much of the early intelligence was conflicting, and two years later,
intelligence gaps remain,” the report said. A mix of individuals,
“including those affiliated” with Al Qaeda, participated in the attacks, it
said, adding, however, that “the intelligence was and remains conflicting
about the identities, affiliations and motivations of the attackers.”

A man accused of being the ringleader of the attackers was apprehended in a
raid by American commandos in Benghazi in June, and will likely go on trial
in Washington next year on murder charges.

The report also debunked a few accusations against the C.I.A. It said that
the agency had not intimidated or prevented “any officer from speaking to
Congress or otherwise telling their story.” It also said that the agency
had not administered “any unusual polygraph exams” to officers about their
assignment in Benghazi. And it said that the C.I.A. was not collecting arms
in Libya and sending them to rebel groups in Syria.

*ABC News: “Top Hillary Clinton Supporters Gather to Plot, Strategize”
<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/11/top-hillary-clinton-supporters-gather-to-plot-strategize/>*

By Liz Kreutz

November 21, 2014, 8:01 p.m. EST

NEW YORK – Two-hundred prominent Democratic strategists, former Clinton
aides and donors, joined forces today for a day-long strategy meeting
hosted by the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary to coalesce
their efforts, plot and plan for when and if Hillary Clinton runs for
president.

The meeting, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the
Clintons hold their annual Clinton Global Initiative summit, was made up of
a series of closed-to-the-media strategizing panels and marked the
beginning of the end of Ready for Hillary, which plans to shut down its
operations once Clinton announces a run.

It also marked a turning point for Clinton’s potential 2016 campaign.

Although nobody today would flat out say it (hypotheticals like “if” and
“hope” preceded all statements about her candidacy), the general sentiment
among the panelists and attendees was: She’s running. And when she does,
her supporters said, they will be ready.

“Hopes run high,” Marty Chavez, the former Albuquerque mayor and a senior
adviser for Ready for Hillary, told reporters. “The biggest takeaway I have
is … there are a lot of people who have her back if she says yes.”

The attendees at the event included Correct the Record’s David Brock and
Burns Strider, who were invited guests to last weekend’s 10th anniversary
event for the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, as
well as political strategists Harold Ickes, James Carville and Paul Begala.
Two people who have been mentioned as possible campaign managers for
Clinton, Stephanie Shriock, the head of EMILY’s List, and Guy Cecil,
executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, also
were there.

Hillary Clinton herself was not at the event. Super PAC rules would not
allow her to go.

Very little was said about other possible Democratic presidential
candidates, such as former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who just this week
became the first candidate to throw his hat in to the ring. The panelists
said they saw Hillary Clinton as the most “formidable” candidate and that
any concerns were not about a “Hillary Clinton problem,” but rather a
problem for the Democratic Party, as a whole.

“We have yet to figure out a message on the economy that resonates with
working-class voters,” Mitch Stewart, a former Obama adviser and founding
partner of 270 Strategies, which partnered with Ready for Hillary, told
reporters. “We have not been able to persuade them that your values align
with ours. And that, for me, is the biggest concern out there.”

The meeting also focused on acknowledging what Ready for Hillary has
accomplished since it launched nearly two years ago. In that time, the
group has raised $11 million and gained 3 million supporters. Once it shuts
down, the group plans to transfer its vast email list of supporters to
Clinton’s campaign. It was unclear, however, what would happen to the
group’s now-famous bus.

Ready for Hillary’s meeting came a day after Hillary Clinton came out in
support of President Obama’s executive action on immigration and blamed
Congress for inaction on the issue. It was a rare move for Clinton,
prompting speculation she might be starting to position herself as a
candidate, because she has remained relatively mute on policy matters since
she stepped down as Obama’s secretary of state in 2013.

Ready for Hillary also hosted a grassroots fundraising event Thursday night
at a noisy, haram-themed lounge downtown.

The event, with roughly 150 people, cost $20.16 to attend and offered up
cocktails thematically linked to Clinton, who might run to become America’s
45th president.

“I’ll have one ‘Ceiling Breaker’ and one ’45,’” a young 20-something guy,
donning a small Ready for Hillary sticker on his button-down shirt, was
heard yelling out to the bartender.

Two minutes later, he was handed two ambiguously colored drinks.

“No idea,” he shouted out when asked what was in them. But, he said with a
smile, “They’re named after her.”

Hillary Clinton, who has a lighter-than-usual schedule in the coming month,
has said she will likely make a decision on 2016 sometime early next year.

*Newsday: “Hillary Clinton eulogizes lawyer Thomas A. Twomey Jr. in East
Hampton”
<https://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituaries/hillary-clinton-eulogizes-lawyer-thomas-a-twomey-jr-in-east-hampton-1.9645065>*

By Debbie Tuma

November 22, 2014, 8:29 p.m. EST

Hillary Rodham Clinton eulogized prominent environmental lawyer Thomas A.
Twomey Jr. at his funeral in East Hampton on Saturday, recalling how he
helped her connect with everyday Long Islanders and win her Senate seat
from New York in 2000.

"He said to me, 'You need to meet real people, those who built this state
and also East Hampton,' " Clinton, who attended the afternoon service with
her husband, former President Bill Clinton, told a crowd of more than 600
mourners at St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

The former first lady and secretary of state, who is weighing a second try
for the White House in 2016, said she met Twomey in the mid-1990s. He took
her to spend time with the North Fork farmers who helped him in a
successful 1977 bid to stop nuclear power plants from being built in
Jamesport, she said.

"What really impressed me was these people had families going back 10 to 12
generations, and I learned how their grandparents and great-grandparents
had loved and cherished this place," Hillary Clinton said. "It made a great
impression on me."

The Clintons are longtime friends of Twomey and his wife, Judith Hope, the
former state Democratic chairwoman, former appointments secretary to Gov.
Hugh Carey, the first female East Hampton town supervisor and a native of
Arkansas.

"The first thing Tom Twomey said to me [when they met] was, 'We have
something in common, we both married someone from Arkansas,' " Clinton said.

Together, Twomey and Hope -- like the Clintons -- were a longtime political
power couple, and also fundraisers with statewide and national connections.

During his legal career over more than four decades, Twomey built the East
End's largest law firm -- Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin, Quartararo
-- with 28 lawyers based in Riverhead. He also served as legal counsel to
numerous local municipal boards and worked as a lawyer for the Long Island
Farm Bureau.

Twomey's efforts to help farmers and stop nuclear plant construction,
Clinton said, "made me think about how Tom took on responsibility in his
own community, which is something purely American.

"He understood that we are individuals but we are also members of
communities," she added.

Before her eulogy, Clinton sat in the front row between her husband and
Hope. When the service was over, the Clintons chatted with mourners for
about a half-hour about topics such as President Barack Obama, immigration
and Hillary Clinton's potential presidential run.

Throughout their long friendship, Clinton said in her eulogy, Twomey taught
her valuable political lessons.

"He knew how to find common ground," Clinton said. "But he also knew how to
stand his ground."

*Associated Press: “Obama: Americans want 'new car smell' in 2016”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5e45b15d8f0944709eaf8a064a048d2e/obama-americans-want-new-car-smell-2016>*

By Darlene Superville

November 23, 2014, 1:04 p.m. EST

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — President Barack Obama says voters want a "new car
smell" in the 2016 White House race and that Hillary Rodham Clinton would
be "a great president."

But would Clinton pass that particular smell test?

In a nationally televised interview broadcast Sunday, Obama seemed to
suggest that any Democrat other than him would provide the turn of the page
that he says voters are interested in. He acknowledged the "dings" to his
own political standing during nearly six years of sometimes bruising
battles with Congress and said Americans will want something new.

"They want to drive something off the lot that doesn't have as much mileage
as me," Obama said in the interview with ABC's "This Week," which was taped
Friday in Las Vegas following a public appearance there by the president.

He said a number of possible Democratic candidates would make "terrific
presidents," but Hillary Clinton is the only one he mentioned by name. He
said she would be a "formidable candidate" and make "a great president" if
she decides to run a second time.

But if she does run — which she is considering, with a decision expected to
be announced early next year — would she have that "new car" scent for
voters?

Hillary Clinton has been a powerful force in Democratic politics for many
years, beginning as Arkansas' first lady before she became America's first
lady after her husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992. When
his two terms were up, she ran for and won a U.S. Senate seat from New York.

She later sought and lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to
Obama, then cemented her worldwide profile by serving Obama as secretary of
state in his first term. The Democratic political establishment is now
awaiting word on whether she will take on the challenge of another national
political campaign.

New car smell or not, Democratic voters hold her in such high regard that
she outdistances anyone else in polling of possible Democratic candidates
for 2016. One of them is Vice President Joe Biden, who has not ruled out a
third run for the White House.

Eight in 10 Democrats held positive views of Clinton in an Associated
Press-GfK poll conducted in late July. Biden had a 71 percent favorable
rating in the survey.

Obama acknowledged that Hillary Clinton won't agree with him on everything,
suggesting that such a stance would be a welcome break for voters after
eight years of Obama. A benefit of running for president, he said, "is you
can stake out your own positions."

The 2016 presidential race could feature a repeat face-off between a
Clinton and a member of another leading American political family: former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is considering entering the 2016 race. His
father and brother both were elected president.

Three of the past four presidents dating to the 1988 election have been
named Bush or Clinton.

Jeb Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, was elected president in 1988. He
lost re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton, who served two terms. Jeb Bush's
brother, George W., then defeated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, in
2000 and was re-elected in 2004. The elder Bush also served two terms as
vice president to Ronald Reagan.

In the AP-GfK survey, Jeb Bush was most popular among potential 2016 GOP
presidential candidates, with 56 percent of Republicans viewing him
favorably. Majorities also held positive views of outgoing Texas Gov. Rick
Perry and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

*CNN: “Sen. Lindsey Graham: GOP-led Benghazi report is 'full of crap'”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/23/politics/lindsey-graham-benghazi-report/index.html>*

By Sara Fischer

November 23, 2014

Washington (CNN) -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, has some harsh
words for the recently released Benghazi report, led by his own party.

"I think the report is full of crap," Graham told Gloria Borger on CNN's
"State of the Union" on Sunday.

"I don't believe that the report is accurate, given the role that Mike
Morell (deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time)
played in misleading the Congress on two different occasions. Why didn't
the report say that?"

The investigative report Graham is referring to was released Friday by
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, and Ranking
Member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland.

The report finds little to support the questions that have been raised
about CIA actions on the ground in Benghazi the night of the deadly attack
on September 11, 2012.

Graham, who has maintained a critical voice in the Benghazi controversy
over the past two years, says it's "garbage" that the report finds no
members of the Obama administration lied to cover up what happened in
Benghazi.

"That's a bunch of garbage," Graham said. "That's a complete bunch of
garbage."

The investigation also found the security at the diplomatic outpost was
weak and also described a "flawed" process used to create talking points
for House members and for then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose public
statements after the attack incensed critics who said the administration
was trying to avoid calling the attack terrorism.

"When Susan Rice was on television after the attack, she said on three
different occasions the consulate was strongly, and significantly secure,"
Graham said. "Nothing could be further than that from the truth, and
there's nothing in the talking points about the level of security."

To conclude, Graham says the findings of the report prove the House
Intelligence Committee "is doing a lousy job policing their own."

"Anybody who has followed Benghazi at all knows that the CIA deputy
director did not come forward to tell Congress what role he played in
changing the talking points and the only way we knew he was involved is
when he told a representative at the White House," Graham said.

Asked why the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee would be
"buying a bunch of garbage," Graham simply replied, "good question."

Graham said he is going to take another look at the findings of the report.

"I'm going to do a hard review of this."

*The Hill blog: Briefing Room: “GOP-led Benghazi report purposely buried in
news cycle, Democrat says”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/225129-gop-led-benghazi-report-purposely-buried-in-news-cycle-democrat>*

By Rebecca Shabad

November 23, 2014, 11:03 a.m. EST

A GOP-led investigation that debunked theories about the 2012 Benghazi
attack was purposely released on the Friday before Thanksgiving to evade
exposure, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Schiff questioned the decision behind the
timing of the release of the House Intelligence Committee’s report.

“Why is this report being released on the Friday before Thanksgiving?”
Schiff asked.

Schiff said if a panel spends two years compiling an important report, it
wouldn’t make much sense to conceal it.

“You want to trumpet it to the high heavens, you don’t want to bury it on
the Friday before Thanksgiving,” he said.

The House Intelligence panel released the report Friday evening, and it
found there was no intelligence failure surrounding the attack, no delay in
the rescue of U.S. personnel and no political cover-up by Obama
administration officials.

Schiff, a member of the committee, said he wouldn’t be surprised if
Republicans employed a similar tactic when the House Select Committee on
Benghazi releases its own report on the attack.

“If the select committee comes up with a similar conclusion, it’ll release
a similar report on Christmas Eve,” he said.

Schiff rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) earlier claims that the
report is “full of crap” and a “bunch of garbage.”

Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence committee supported the
report’s findings, Schiff said, adding that it exonerates the Obama
administration.

Schiff said talk about Benghazi would have died down by now if it weren’t
for the former secretary of State possibly running for president.

“If Hillary Clinton weren’t a likely candidate for president,” he said, “I
think this investigation would have been over with a long time ago.”

*New York Times: “A Deep 2016 Republican Presidential Field Reflects Party
Divisions”
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/us/politics/a-deep-2016-republican-presidential-field-reflects-divisions-in-age-and-ideology.html>*

By Michael Barbaro and Jonathan Martin

November 22, 2014

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Republican presidential primaries have for decades been
orderly affairs, with any momentary drama mitigated by the expectation that
the party would inevitably nominate its tested, often graying front-runner.

But as the 2016 White House campaign effectively began in the last week, it
became apparent that this race might be different: a fluid contest, verging
on chaotic, that will showcase the party’s deep bench of talent but also
highlight its ideological and generational divisions.

As Democrats signal that they are ready to rally behind Hillary Rodham
Clinton before their primary season even begins, allowing them to focus
their fund-raising and firepower mostly on the general election, the
Republicans appear destined for a free-for-all.

“I can think of about 16 potential candidates,” said Haley Barbour, the
former governor of Mississippi and a veteran of Republican presidential
politics dating to 1968. “Almost every one of them have a starting point.
But there is no true front-runner.”

The sprawling nature of the race was on display Thursday as an array of
would-be candidates took steps to position themselves.

At a gathering of Republican governors here, Gov. Chris Christie of New
Jersey sought to capitalize on the party’s victories this year in
Democratic-leaning states while at least six fellow governors tested their
messages and met with potential donors.

On the same day in Washington, Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor,
addressed an education conference and tried to tamp down differences with
the right on the Common Core standards. On Capitol Hill, Senator Rand Paul
of Kentucky continued his outreach to African-Americans by having breakfast
with the Rev. Al Sharpton, while Senator Ted Cruz of Texas appealed to
conservatives by citing Cicero on the Senate floor in a speech castigating
President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

And in California, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, just
back from taking a group of evangelicals from early primary states on a
trip to Europe honoring Ronald Reagan’s Cold War leadership, venerated Mr.
Reagan in a speech at his presidential library.

If the dizzying activity on a single day captured the depth of the
Republican field, it also underlined its factions, split among pragmatists,
hard-liners and those trying to bridge the blocs.

Foster Friess, a major Republican donor whose contributions to Rick
Santorum’s “super PAC” helped keep alive the former Pennsylvania senator’s
presidential campaign two years ago, acknowledged that the coalescence
around Mrs. Clinton was a “huge advantage” for Democrats.

“That’s why the Democrats run the government and the Republicans run the
museums,” Mr. Friess said.

But the eventual choice for the nomination will not merely speak to
philosophical direction. Republicans also confront a generational decision:
They have several energetic governors and senators in their 40s and early
50s lining up to run. Yet there is also an older group of potential
candidates, such as Mr. Bush and Mitt Romney, who could arrest the
ambitions of the next generation of Republicans but whose experience could
be appealing.

To date, Mrs. Clinton, 67, has been the target of the age-oriented attacks
by the younger Republicans. But some of that fire is now from within,
albeit subtly. After Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, 62, mentioned 1980s-era
congressional doings, when he was in the House, at a news conference here,
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, 47, shot back: “John talked about ‘86?
That’s when I was in high school.”

Democrats have had their share of intergenerational battles, but this is
relatively new terrain for Republicans. With the exception of George W.
Bush, every Republican nominee since 1976 has been over 60. Now, the wide
range of age, experience and viewpoints could lead to an unusually
turbulent contest.

“It is unpredictable as I can recall, but I worry less about it because
we’ve changed the calendar and we’ll have a de facto nominee by late April
and a convention by late June,” said Charles R. Black Jr., a longtime
Republican strategist, referring to the changes made by the Republican
National Committee to compress the primary schedule and nominating
convention.

While the would-be candidates are taking public steps to assert themselves,
the action has been just as intense behind the scenes as they build
political operations.

Jeb Bush has started reaching out to Republicans in early primary states,
including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, whom he called on
election night. And he met with Spencer Zwick, Mr. Romney’s finance
director, this year. Yet Mr. Bush has not decided on a bid, and those
familiar with his thinking say he will give no indication until next year.
Some of his private comments in recent months — musing about the need for a
“pain threshold” to run and complaining about a video tracker that the
liberal group American Bridge assigned to him — raise doubts about his
intentions.

Still, some of Mr. Bush’s confidants have had informal conversations with
potential aides. Sally Bradshaw and Mike Murphy, his two closest advisers,
have quietly met with campaign lawyers, data specialists and donors. While
Mr. Bush was in Washington to attend his education foundation’s conference,
Ms. Bradshaw spent days in the capital visiting with a number of
Republicans. They included two of the party’s most in-demand strategists
after its success this month: Rob Collins, executive director of the
National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Liesl Hickey, executive
director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Mr. Christie’s supporters have been just as aggressive. They envision him
establishing a political organization in the coming months to raise money.
They also foresee a top role for Phil Cox, who is stepping down as
executive director of the Republican Governors Association.

“The governor has really come to appreciate Phil’s talents and counsel,”
said William J. Palatucci, one of Mr. Christie’s closest advisers. Mr.
Christie may also look to Rick Wiley, a former Republican National
Committee political director who is close to Mike DuHaime, Mr. Christie’s
chief strategist.

Mr. Paul has been perhaps the most open about his presidential intentions,
and last week he hired away a strategist from Mr. Cruz. But Mr. Paul has
not found a campaign manager, having been turned down by Ward Baker, who
accepted a job running the Republicans’ senatorial committee.

There is also some uncertainty about who will run Mr. Walker’s expected
campaign. Mr. Wiley, if he does not work for Mr. Christie, would be a
possibility. Another prospect is Mr. Walker’s strategist, Keith Gilkes, but
he is said to be in the running for the top staff job at the Republican
Governors Association.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has a seasoned group of advisers in place,
and his team has begun considering aides for early primary states. Gov.
Rick Perry of Texas also has a team ready and is inviting donors to Austin.

Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana said in an interview that he would not decide on
his future until after his state’s legislative session. “After that
concludes in the spring, we will sit down and make decisions about our
future,” he said. The nomination season is likely to be effectively
underway at that point, which gives pause to some in the party who fear a
replay of the long and contentious battle in 2012.

“You might argue it was more divisive than it needed to be,” Mr. Friess
said, adding that this time, “the donors are not going to let that happen.”

*Calendar:*

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

·  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/>)

·  December 16 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton honored by Robert F. Kennedy
Center for Justice and Human Rights (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/hillary-clinton-ripple-of-hope-award-112478.html>
)

·  February 24 – Santa Clara, CA: Sec. Clinton to Keynote Address at
Inaugural Watermark Conference for Women (PR Newswire
<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hillary-rodham-clinton-to-deliver-keynote-address-at-inaugural-watermark-conference-for-women-283200361.html>
)