Ready for Hillary, the leading super PAC that has been raising money in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton presidential run, will be hosting a Hanover area organizing meeting tonight, an event that marks the first major initiative of the organization in Hanover in the early stages of the 2016 election cycle. While there are not any Republican super PACs mobilizing in New Hampshire that are as prominent as Ready for Hillary, potential GOP presidential candidates have already begun to eye New Hampshire as an opportune place to start exploring the prospect of candidacy.
Democrat and former New Hampshire state representative Bernie Benn (D-Grafton County District 9) and his wife Vivian Kogan are hosting the event at their home. Benn said that the meeting is purely for organizational purposes and not a fundraising effort. Benn said he is expecting a turnout of 15 to 20 people, likely a mix of affiliated members and people uninvolved in the organization.
“It’s not a large meeting, and it’s meant to be an organizational meeting to get people aware in the area and find people who would be willing to work for her if she does announce,” Benn said. “It’s not a fundraiser in any sense. We certainly wouldn’t do that until she had announced.”
Northeast regional organizing director for Ready for Hillary Sean Downey said that people throughout the region are already mobilizing in support of a possible Clinton presidential run.
“There are folks all over the state and the country and frankly all over [Dartmouth’s] region in the Upper Valley who are taking on more of a role — hosting a house party, working to sign up their friends and neighbors, taking a larger part in the organization,” Downey said. “Presidential campaigns require a lot of loyalty and energy and effort, and while Hillary has made it clear that she’s going to make a decision at some point in the future, there are folks who want to take an active role and help folks get ready to go.”
Political science professor at the University of New Hampshire and director of the UNH Survey Center Andy Smith said that events like tonight’s organizing meeting are a natural progression for a campaign, particularly given Clinton’s existing base of support in the state, demonstrated by her victory in the 2008 New Hampshire primary.
“This is the next step — you start organizing at local levels and get people signed up so you can have the ground troops you need when you run your actual campaign,” he said. “In fact, in 2007 at this time campaigns were already having fairly large-scale campaign events, so we’re a little bit behind the curve this time compared to last cycle.”
Ready for Hillary, which was founded in January 2013, has grown into a national organization and has raised more than $12 million directed toward laying the groundwork for the Clinton campaign.
According to information provided by the organization, more than 3 million people nationally have identified as “ready for Hillary,” Downey said.
Downey said that those funds have almost entirely been reallocated for organizational purposes and that Ready for Hillary has not been saving money for the long term. Ready for Hillary plans to scale back its operations after Clinton announces her candidacy. This was expected to be before Feb. 1, but co-founder Adam Parkhomenko has told national media outlets that the super PAC is now planning to operate through April 1.
“The money has been put back into organizing, whether that’s the digital program, constituency organizing — all of those things require staff, manpower, offices, infrastructure, supplies, so the money that we do raise goes right back into organizing,” Downey said.
Downey said that New Hampshire college students are important targets for his branch of Ready for Hillary’s efforts.
“It’s no secret that Dartmouth, UNH, Plymouth [State University] and Keene [State College] have a special opportunity to shape the process every four years,” he said. “It’s vital, and the fact that kids on campus are excited about a potential Hillary candidacy, it’s up to us to harness that and give them opportunities to help. What we’ve seen is that when we bring the Hillary bus on campus, students get excited.”
As a super PAC, Ready for Hillary is legally barred from making direct monetary contributions to Clinton’s campaign or to the Democratic Party. In keeping with the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision regulating campaign spending by organizations, Ready for Hillary can legally solicit donations of any size from any individual or group and can spend unlimited amounts of money for political purposes independently of the Clinton campaign.
College Republicans president Michelle Knesbach ’17 said that the group is not involved with any PACs, and works more closely with single action advocacy groups to improve the club and bring speakers to campus. She noted, however, that Ready for Hillary was the first PAC to begin working in New Hampshire.
“In terms of Ready for Hillary, they were on the ground even into last spring, and I think that it’s a little bit early,” she said. “I think it’s really hypocritical, since Democrats are typically very outspoken against super PACs and they’re the first one on the ground in New Hampshire working months out of even an announcement for 2016.”
While Republican PACs have not been campaigning or fundraising, potential Republican candidates have begun laying the groundwork in New Hampshire. Former gov. Jim Gilmore R-VA, considered a potential candidate, is visiting New Hampshire Thursday and Friday.
A new super PAC formed by supporters of New Jersey gov. Chris Christie R-N.J. just appointed a new New Hampshire state director — the outgoing executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party Matt Mowers.
The NHRP will be inviting all potential 2016 GOP candidates to a “First in the National Republican Leadership Summit” to be held in Nashua during mid-April.
Rick Santorum’s R-Pa nonprofit, Patriot Voices, grew almost directly out of his unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign. He cofounded the group in June 2012 and its executive director, Nadine Maenza, joined shortly after serving as national finance director of his presidential run. She also works for Santorum’s federal PAC of the same name: Patriot Voices PAC.
Together, the two entities — which have the same logo and overlapping staff — have raised $8 million since June 2012, according to spokeswoman Virginia Davis.
Former gov. Rick Perry’s R-TX supportive nonprofit, Americans for Economic Freedom, was seeded with $200,000 in leftover money from the super PAC that backed his 2012 presidential campaign. The group is not technically tied to the former Texas governor, though its CEO is Jeff Miller, a Perry confidant who has been laying the groundwork for Perry’s 2016 run.
