Clinton: Ask Me About 2016 —in 2015

She tells Diane Sawyer she's still making her mind up
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 9, 2014 12:11 AM CDT
Clinton: Ask Me Next Year About 2016
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks in Washington last month.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

Hillary Clinton fans and haters alike are going to have to wait a while to learn whether she's planning a 2016 White House bid. In an ABC interview ahead of tomorrow's release of her memoir, Hard Choices, Clinton told Diane Sawyer that she's still working on the hard choice about 2016 and there won't be an announcement this year. "I just want to kind of get through this year, travel around the country, sign books, help in the midterm elections in the fall, and then take a deep breath and kind of go through my pluses and minuses about what I will—and will not—be thinking about as I make the decision," she said. Clinton also declined to say whether she would testify before a congressional committee investigating the 2012 killing of four Americans in Benghazi.

But while Clinton claims to still be making her mind up, a new Washington Post/ABC poll finds that she has the backing of a massive 69% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, and Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post believes there is no doubt she is running. She is already racking up endorsements, signing up top talent to the Ready for Hillary super PAC, and working hard to combat negatives like Karl Rove's suggestion she has brain damage, he notes. So why the wait? For Clinton, "there’s absolutely no reason—or benefit—to formally declaring her candidacy anytime soon," Cillizza writes. "She is such a heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination that nothing in the contest will move until she does." (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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