Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn’t plan to leave the political class and her supporters hanging much longer: she’ll announce whether she’ll run for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination next year:
The nation may not have to wait much longer to learn the future plans of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state who’s considered the leading Democrat for the 2016 presidential race.
In a Wednesday interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, who named the former first lady the “Most Fascinating Person of 2013,” Clinton said she hadn’t yet made up her mind on a presidential run. She assured Walters her announcement would come soon.
“Obviously, I will look carefully at what I think I can do and make that decision sometime next year,” Clinton said.
Pundits have discussed a Clinton run since she lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama in 2008. Pollsters have weighed her chances of winning the 2016 nomination and dedicated supporters have laid the foundation for her campaign in a quickly growing super PAC called “Ready for Hillary.” But Clinton told Walters an official announcement was premature.
“It’s such a difficult decision, and it’s one that I’m not going to rush into … and I don’t think we should be looking at the next election,” Clinton said. “I think we should be looking at the work that we have today. Our unemployment rate is too high. We have people getting kicked off food stamps who are in terrible economic straits. Small business is not getting credit, I could go on and on, so I think we ought to pay attention to what’s happening right now.”
The timing would be smart. If Hillary Clinton holds off too long in announcing her intentions it could change the dynamics on the Democratic nomination race by causing some potential candidates to balk at entering and also impact where fundraisers give their money. Once she gets in it’ll clarify the race with other candidates and, most likely, a candidate or two who’ll present themselves as anti-Hillarys or a fresh break from the Clinton/Obama eras. And there’s also a possibility it’ll be Clinton Brown again — this time with California Gov. Jerry Brown running against Hillary Clinton.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.