Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC posts substantial 2013 fundraising haul
Washington (CNN) – Who says you need a candidate to raise a bundle of cash?
Ready for Hillary, the grassroots Super PAC urging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, raised over $4 million from roughly 33,000 donors in 2013, Seth Bringman, the group's spokesman, said Tuesday.
In a memo obtained by CNN, the group touts a "groundswell" of support in the second half of 2013; the number of new supporters nearly quadrupled and donations to the group doubled from earlier in the year.
This comes as Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2016, has yet to declare if she will even run for the office.
"We have exceeded our goals and are ahead of schedule in raising the funds necessary to build a grass-roots army that can be activated the moment Hillary makes a decision,” said Ready for Hillary Executive Director Adam Parkhomenko. “This movement is unprecedented – not because of our staff but because of our supporters – and we will continue to build capacity across the country to put Hillary in the strongest position possible should she decide to run.”
Parkhomenko, who worked for Clinton's failed 2008 campaign against now President Barack Obama, went on to say that the money raised will go toward "list-building, digital advertising and on-the-ground organizing" with the goal to ensure that if Clinton runs, "she will have as many supporters as possible lined up from the beginning ready to help her win."
The average contribution was $82, according to the group, with 98% of donations coming in at $100 or less.
Nearl 18,000 of these donations, according to the group, came from "low-dollar, grass-roots" organizing events where Clinton supporters have come together in cities across the country and paid $20.16 to attend the gathering.
Ready for Hillary was organized early in 2013, shortly after Clinton left the State Department. It is staffed by a number of Clinton loyalists like Tracy Sefl and Craig Smith, both advisers with Clinton ties.
The group has long pledged that its focus is on collecting data, which includes everything from contact information to issue interest, from Clinton supporters around the country. A representative from the group said Ready for Hillary will not be buying TV ads with the money it has raised and instead will invest in on-the-ground organizing and other ways to help grow its database.
"The organization has a very specific mission," Sefl said in December. "Period, end of sentence."
The group hopes if Clinton decides to run for office - a decision she has said she will make sometime in 2014 - those names could be a solid base of early supporters. The plan, according to a representative from the group, would be to make the list available to the campaign through a third-party vendor. If the campaign wanted the names, it would have the option to rent the list, pay a fair market value for it or swap names with Ready for Hillary.
To gather data, Ready for Hillary has held multiple events in states like Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and California. In the near future, the group plans to hold events in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina and Arizona.
The group said on Thursday that donations came from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and from military service members abroad.
Good evening Madam President!
What difference does it make !!! How can you have any respect for Hilly when her husband cheats on her and she does nothing, if she cant handle Slick Willie, How can she run a country ????
The protector of the government Cake are now mobilized.
$4 million for Hillary to run on Bill's accomplishments and not her own.
Biden 2016!
Hillary16.
PS: please count on me too.
Pipedreams.
Hillary's health is worse than Roosevelt's was in 1945.
Whatever garners the votes of entitlement-seeking non-thinking America, that's what the Democratic party will pander. That's what the sensationalist media will propagandize. Flaunt our current presidential disaster, and lo, flaunt another equally as inept. But it's all about feeding the mob gimme frenzy. That will not change, and will probably only increase. Simply don't vote for her nor for any ilk of her kind.
2016 is nice. Lets take care of 2014 and get Congress ready for her arrival. EVER FORWARD
If she runs , she will win!!! Who wants to go back to a republican run goverment.we haven't had a successful GOP run goverment sence Eisenhower !!!!!
I find it amusing listening to some of the talking heads who are now saying its time for a woman President. They are telling us that its time for a woman President. That women will vote for a woman. Those same talking heads said the opposite during the 08 elections. Their memo then was that a woman will not vote for a woman just because she is female. In 08 those same talking heads say women will not vote for Sarah Palin just because she is a woman. Now those talking heads are saying it time to vote for Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman. Unscrupulous is the word that comes to mind.
$4M while not even in the race yet if at all...Say what you want, but that's pretty amazing.
NOW, CNN should do a story on how much in the way of donations Soros has been giving Chris Christie for years to motivate him into running in 2016.
if the dems really were serious about a "first woman president" they would have put her in 2008....is this what America and Dems are all about? "firsts?" Maybe we should just vote in the "best person for the job"and forget about Democrats and their egos and bragging rights....
I'll take lack of scruples over pure evil any day
Say it slowly with me smitty, congratulations madam president. Now, that wasn't so bad was it? Still breathing?
Goodness knows where not ready for the alternative from the right.
No Clinton, no Biden, maybe Omalley?
Hillary will need more than that, to fight off fox news who is determined not to put a single dem in their fold of hosting. their rich gang of host pummels the dems and this president 24 hours a day for the past 5 years, by whipping up fake scandals after fake scandals, telling the american people that going without healthcare and being poor is good for you, and slamming every negative problem that the most massive healthcare program in our history comes up with. yet they dont want to show the positiveness of healthcare: cost is falling like a brick, over 9 million people are now covered that wasnt before, if you include people under 26 that could go on their parents insurance. in a world that is getting more globalized every day, and Americans are no different than Chinese in big companies eyes. i applaud this president for focusing on the american people's well being, and making sure when the world is fully globalized, our people wont be left out in the cold. madam president Hillary Clinton will keep that american first policy alive.
Harold Read wrote:
$4 million for Hillary to run on Bill's accomplishments and not her own.
Biden 2016!
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I have to try hard to find the right wing's reverse psychology to be amusing. Most of the time, I just shake my head at the poor, lost souls who have minds that actually believe that such sophmoric deceptions would be found credible by anyone. What's even more pitiful is that when they do it themselves, it is amazingly effective.
It has been hard for the baggers these past 5 years, that a non white was elected president twice. But, can you imagine how difficult it will be for our domestic GOP Taliban to accept a woman president? Rush and his disciples will surely move to Costa Rica.
Hilary will be WORSE than Obama...........and people should really think about whether we can afford another disaster, after the current one.
bill o'rights
Pipedreams.
Hillary's health is worse than Roosevelt's was in 1945.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And you know this because.... ?
Madame President.
Repeat.
Madame President.
It is never too early to practice how you will address your new Commander-In-Chief come 2016.
"Maybe we should just vote in the "best person for the job"
I would suggest that if the Republicans thought this as a winning motto they would be encouraged to run the best candidate. Quite frankly faulting the Democrats for doing so isn't a winning strategy either. It does nothing but show just how far out of the loop Republicans are in trying to come up with viable candidates of their own to pander to.
@Tampa Tim
It has been hard for the baggers these past 5 years, that a non white was elected president twice. But, can you imagine how difficult it will be for our domestic GOP Taliban to accept a woman president? Rush and his disciples will surely move to Costa Rica.
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All hope of a woman president, Hillary or otherwise, letting a bill go through without veto, to tell women what to do with their bodies and what religion to believe will be gone. The Moral Legislation Big Government Theocracy folks are very scared.