Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime friend of the Clintons who served as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign chairman, said he hopes Mrs. Clinton enters the race — but that she has plenty of time to make a decision.
“I think she is obviously going through that process to make that decision,” he said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day.” “I think she’s meeting with folks and [putting] a plan together what she wants to do.”
“I remind everybody that her husband in 1991 actually got in the campaign in October,” he said. “So I’m not saying that’s when Hillary will do it, but she’s got time — she’s putting her plans together [and] making that decision.”
Mrs. Clinton is the undisputed frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination at this point, with a few others, such as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, expressing an interest.
But the field is likely to be frozen to a certain extent until Mrs. Clinton makes her intentions clear. She said at an event in Silicon Valley Tuesday that a decision will come “in good time.”
Tying the conversation back to the ongoing stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. McAuliffe said that “Hillary Clinton will make sure this nation is secure and that our economy is humming for every single American.”
“So I’m ready for Hillary for president,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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