OPINION:
The press has already dubbed this week “Clintonpalooza” and “Clintonmania”. Indeed, Hillary Clinton’s long awaited memoir “Tough Choices” will be published Tuesday, which also marks the first day of her multi-city, month-long book tour to support it.
Then there’s that bus. Bus?
It’s brand new and an automotive doozy. A shiny blue campaign-style bus emblazoned with slogans and portraits of Mrs. Clinton will accompany her from stop to stop on her promotional tour. The vehicle is courtesy of Ready for Hillary, the super PAC founded more than a year ago that has already raised $6 million for a possible campaign - outpacing any potential GOP rivals. The bus itself, incidentally, is already on Twitter @Hillarybus and with over 1,200 followers. And it will be rolling, organizers say, on a “Grassroots Tour.”
Meanwhile, between the book and wall-to-wall primetime interviews, Mrs. Clinton appears to be newly re-branded as a candidate, appearing cheerful and polished during an exclusive ABC News interview that airs Monday night, previously leaked to the public in strategic snippets akin to theatrical trailers.
But there’s more showbiz. CBS is already advertising “Madame Secretary,” a dramatic new series starring the flinty but gorgeous Tea Leoni, whose character is described by the network as the “shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State who drives international diplomacy, battles office politics and circumvents protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home.”
So what do we have here? It is verging into international intrigue. Her coverage is going global. Even the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post asks, “Hillary Clinton embarks on a book tour - or is it a campaign tour?”
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