New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has begun weighing in with New Hampshire Democratic activists about a possible run for President in 2008.
Clinton during the past few days has placed initial calls to key Democrats in the first-in-the-nation primary state seeking advice, according to veteran state and national party activist Karen Hicks.
Hicks, who headed Howard Dean's New Hampshire presidential campaign in 2004, said those calls will continue. Hicks also confirmed that if Clinton runs for President, "I'll be with her," reportedly as national field director, a position similar to the one she held for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 general election.
The New Hampshire Union Leader learned that Clinton had a telephone conversation last week with Gov. John Lynch. The two officials had been trying to contact each other since Clinton initiated the calling immediately after the Nov. 7 election.
Clinton reportedly met on Sunday with New York Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer to solicit his support for a White House bid. A top aide to Clinton also told The Associated Press that Clinton aides have begun interviewing possible campaign staffers and have hired a communications specialist and a national fund-raising director.
Word of Clinton's New Hampshire overtures comes as state Democrats prepare to welcome their party's newest "rock star," Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, to a celebration of their 2006 election day sweep on Sunday afternoon in Manchester. Yesterday, Obama added a Sunday morning visit to Portsmouth to his schedule.
As first reported on UnionLeader.com yesterday afternoon, Hicks said Clinton has "begun calling a whole variety of people in New Hampshire to get their advice as she enters a new phase of thinking" about a run for President in 2008.
Hicks said she spoke with Clinton recently about the former First Lady's possible Presidential bid. She said Clinton told her she would be making the New Hampshire calls.
"I still think she is exploring this," Hicks said. "She, of course, has a huge interest in New Hampshire, and she is interested in getting people's advice about what the campaign should look like if she runs."
Hicks said she did not have the names of all of those Clinton has called and will be calling.
"I don't know the whole list," Hicks said, "but obviously they are going to be some of the leaders that you would think would be on the list, some of the good grassroots organizational people on the electoral level, and a whole variety of people that, should she decide to run, would be in a position to help her."
Hicks was a long-time New Hampshire-based activist who, after working for Dean's campaign and then the DNC, became a senior advisor to the Labor Party in Great Britain for the 2005 British general election. She said she is currently engaged in a fellowship in political organizing at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics in Boston.
Hicks called Clinton "the kind of leader we need, and I'm excited about the fact that she is considering this. I'm willing to do whatever I can to help."
She said she did not know either Clinton's timetable for a formal decision or whether plans are being made for a Clinton visit to New Hampshire.
State Democratic chair Kathy Sullivan yesterday declined to comment when asked if she has heard from Clinton.
State Rep. Patricia McMahon, D-North Sutton, and former Bill Clinton-appointed ambassadors Terry Shumaker and George Bruno, all key players in former President Clinton's New Hampshire Presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996, said they had not yet heard from her.
"I have no idea if she will run," McMahon said, "and my bet is that she is not sure yet and her husband does not know yet. But McMahon, asked if she would support a Clinton run for President, said, "It's early, but I'd have to say it would be hard to say 'no' because of the experience she's had and the issues that she has supported."
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