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Hillary Friends: Presidential Bid Has Started
If Thursday's opening of Bill Clinton's presidential library had the feel of a campaign event, that's because that's just what it was. [Story continues below...]
So says Dick Morris, who writes in the New York Post this week, "Yesterday's events in Little Rock had less to do with a library retrospective of the Bill Clinton years than a campaign launch for the prospective presidency of Hillary Clinton."
Why, after all, says Morris, is Hillary doing the bulk of the interviews - when it's Bill's library?
"It's his library. But it's her candidacy," he explains. "So she did all the softball TV interviews, not him - reminding voters of her availability for 2008 while seeming to talk about the nineties."
Having Mrs. Clinton's presidntial bid kick off in the heartland is a smart move, Morris said.
The Little Rock locale "relaunches Hillary as a red state kind of girl. Needing to live down her recent New York pedigree, Mrs. Clinton gets to renew her identification with Arkansas so she can avoid being labeled a bicoastal liberal."
Another advantage: The Clintons can use the library to cover campaign expenses until they're ready to make a formal announcement.
"Hillary now has all the staffing she needs for a White House run," Morris says. "Funded with donations from Democratic Clinton allies, the library is really a support network for Hillary's candidacy."
Raising money for the library instead of a political campaign has another advantage. Notes Morris:
"Give money directly to a president, and it's a bribe. Contribute to a campaign, a party or a 527 Committee, and the use of the cash is severely restricted by law."
But donations to a presidential library can be used in any way the Library Board allows.
Ponder the possibilities:
Denise Rich, Vera Wang, James Levin and other longtime Clinton donors are known to have ponied up as much as a million dollars apiece. But that doesn't come close to covering the Clinton campaign-library's $165 million price tag.
The Saudis kicked in somewhere between a million and $20 million, according to columnist Robert Novak.
Who else might have opened their wallets? James Riady? Charlie Trie? Chinese military intelligence?
The Clintons aren't saying, because, as Morris notes, they don't have to.
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