Travelers Prep For Hillary Journey

The Arkansas Travelers are stirring again, hoping to help elect Hillary Clinton president.

These are the veteran Arkansas volunteers who worked for Bill Clinton’s election as president in 1992 and 1996 and again for Hillary Clinton in her unsuccessful 2008 bid for the off ce.

Sheila Bronfman, the Little Rock woman who led the Travelers through those campaigns, last week asked former and potential Travelers and other friends to join the Ready for Hillary organization preparing for her candidacy in 2016.

While the 2016 elections may seem a long way oft , those critical Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary are just two years away.

“If you, like me, want Hillary to be our next president, the most important thing we can do is get on board early and start planning,” Bronfman wrote in an email she asked be forwarded to other potential supporters.

Mind you, there has been no public announcement from Hillary Clinton herself that she will seek the presidency in 2016. Nor will there be an announcement anytime soon.

Nevertheless, Ready for Hillary is encouraging herto run and is raising money and putting the machinery in place to support another bid.

Craig T. Smith, the Arkansas native who was national field director for Bill Clinton’s campaigns and later White House political director, is helping oversee the Ready for Hillary organization. He has been part of the eftort since April and is traveling around the country on behalf of the group, raising money and laying groundwork for a campaign that at best might develop late this year.

There are other elections, including the 2014 congressional contests, that take immediate priority, he said. That doesn’t stop the planning for 2016.

Nationally, he said, about 1.5 million people have so far shown support for Ready for Hillary. About 600,000 of those, including 35,000 donors, are considered “active” participants. He expects the numbers to grow and to help persuade the former secretary ofstate, U.S. senator and fi rst lady to seek the Democratic nomination again.

Notably, among others involved in Ready for Hillary are some of President Barrack Obama’s campaign people. Their obviously successful techniques and tactics will be part of a new Clinton strategy.

One-on-one campaigning like that done by the Arkansas Travelers will also be part of the mix. Voters will be more influenced by a personal conversation than they will be by a thousand TV ads, Smith said.

These Arkansas people, who have always been a base of support for both Clintons, Smith said, can talk about the Hillary they’ve known for decades, first as a friend and the state’s fi rst lady.

“The Arkansas piece of this is critical,” he said, although Hillary’s base of support is now global.

For the record, many of the Arkansas Travelers have been ready for Hillary to run again ever since her 2008 bid faltered. That unsuccessful campaign left a bitter taste to people who had gotten used to winning in Bill Clinton’s campaigns.

Bronfman said Monday the early response from Travelers had been “great” even though she only emailed them the previous Friday.

She asked each of those former Travelers as wellas others who may want to travel for Hillary in the future to make an introductory contribution to the Ready for Hillary organizations of at least $20.16. Signing up at https://www.readyforhillary.com/travelers will get them on an updated mail list that Bronfman will use to rally the troops down the line.

The Arkansas Travelers are widely credited with having kept Bill Clinton’s 1992 candidacy viable.

They showed up by the dozens in New Hampshire to prop up a troubled campaign and a beleaguered candidate, then shored up support in other states as well.

Throughout the primary and general elections, they spread out around the country to tell voters about their then-governor and friend.

They were prepared to do the same personal campaigning for Hillary but worked only four states before her early withdrawal from the 2008 primary.

Now, they say, 2016 ofters a new chance to tell Hillary’s story.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. SHE IS AUTHOR OF “POLITICAL MAGIC: THE TRAVELS, TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF THE CLINTONS’ ARKANSAS TRAVELERS.”