Lanny Davis — a Washington, D.C., insider who served as special counsel to former President Bill Clinton — said Republicans talk so much about a Hillary Clinton run for the White House that he’s getting the feeling they’re afraid of her.
“What’s very amusing is the number of Republicans that are mentioning Hillary Clinton as being harmed by the election,” Mr. Davis said during an interview on “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV. “You think they’re worried? I mean, do you think?”
He said he’s watched with fascination as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has stated repeatedly that Mrs. Clinton, the former Secretary of State, ought to make a run for the presidency — that the GOP would surely succeed if she did.
“They can’t take their eyes or minds or voices of Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Davis said. “It seems like they’re kind of afraid of her, wouldn’t you say? … Isn’t it interesting how many times Reince Priebus says that he wants to run against Hillary Clinton? You think it’s because he’s worried about Hillary Clinton?”
Mr. Davis also refuted any notion that that sweeping Republican wins on Election Day were going to prove damaging to Mrs. Clinton, should she decide to run in 2016.
“The answer is of course that Hillary Clinton was not on the ballot, Bill Clinton wasn’t on the ballot, Barack Obama wasn’t on the ballot,” he said, Newsmax reported. “But the American people did put on the ballot Washington, D.C., and its dysfunctionality, and President Obama does have very poor approval ratings and lots of other reasons.”
Mr. Davis said he’s not sure if Mrs. Clinton is running or not — but that it was likely she would.
“I’m not convinced [she’s running]. I have not talked to her. I have not asked her the question,” he said, Newsmax reported. “But I know her for 44 years, and knowing her as I do, she is a grandmother, she loves her life, she loves her privacy to the extent that she has any, and being a presidential candidate, much less being president, is a big decision. Do I think it’s likely? Yes, I do, because she is by far the most qualified of either any Democrat or Republican, but I’m biased, of course. But she has not made her mind up for sure yet. That’s my guess.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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