Pandering:
December 08, 2006
Sen. Hillary Clinton, shuttling between New York and Washington, now has meetings scheduled with the leaders of at several major labor unions, including the International Associaton of Firefighters and the Service Employees International Union, to discuss her likely presidential campaign.
At least two of the meetings are tentatively scheduled for next week, Democrats with direct knowledge of the meetings said.
Unions, despite a steep decline in their numerical strength, remain powerful institutional allies of the Democratic Party, spending more than $100M in 2006 to elect Democratic candidates.
Labor union members make up about 15 percent of the delegates who attend the Democratic National Convention. But only one union endorsed the eventual winner of the primary in 2004, John Kerry -- the International Association of Firefighters. When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, AFSCME, a public employees union, broke ranks and gave him a pivotal endorsement before the New Hampshire primary. In office, Clinton kept AFSCME chief Gerald McEntee close but often
rejected the union's advice on policy matters.
Snip...
Senior members of Clinton's team continue to gauge the interest of Democratic consultants. Two Democratic ad makers acknowledged they have been contacted informally by a Clinton adviser to see whether they'd be interested in joining of a team of consultants who'd work on media for the campaign. But a Clinton aide cautioned that no firms have been hired and no decision about the structure of the media team had been made.
One Democrat said that Clinton's team hopes that Michael Whouley, the vaunted Democratic strategist who masterminded Sen. John Kerry's come-from-behind win in the Iowa caucuses and Al Gore's popular vote victory in 2000, would join her team later in the year. But Democrats close to Whouley say he will wait to see whether Kerry runs again before making any other decisions. Whouley is a principal of the Atlas Project, which aims to increase Democratic performance in presidential elections, and would likely play a key role in the Democratic nominee's general election campaign, regardless of who that nominee may be. Separately, a Clinton aide said that the Senator planned to attend Renaissance Weekend, a New Year's gathering of prominent Americans, over the holidays.
Clinton's office has not confirmed reports that the New Hampshire Democratic Party has invited her to keynote its Team 100 fundraising dinner in early February. New Hampshire Dem chair Kathy Sullivan said that no announcements were imminent.
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