Correct The Record Wednesday October 8, 2014 Morning Roundup

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P17 D6 P22 V11 P19

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*​**Correct The Record Wednesday October 8, 2014 Morning Roundup:* *Headlines:* *The Hill: “Clinton allies look to build tech advantage ahead of ’16” <http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/220085-clinton-allies-look-to-build-tech-advantage-ahead-of-16>* “Hillary Clinton’s allies are building a technological advantage for her prospective presidential campaign, meant to scare Democrats thinking about challenging her in a primary and intimidate Republicans who would oppose her in the general election.” *CNN: “Warren Buffett will bet you that Hillary Clinton wins in 2016” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/politics/buffett-clinton-2016/>* “Warren Buffett is so sure that Hillary Clinton will win the presidency in 2016, he is willing to wager some of his $58.2 billion net worth.” *MSNBC: “Panetta hitches raft to Clinton, jettisons Obama” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/panetta-hitches-raft-clinton-jettisons-obama>* “On arming the so-called moderate Syrian rebels, the most contentious issue that divided Clinton and Obama during her tenure in the administration, Panetta staked out a position further from the White House than Clinton’s.” *Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Leon Panetta boiled down Democrats’ criticism of Barack Obama to one sentence” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/07/leon-panetta-boiled-down-democrats-criticism-of-barack-obama-to-one-sentence/>* “What's fascinating about this gripe with Obama is how much it plays into a) the argument that Hillary Clinton made against him in the 2008 presidential primary and b) the argument Hillary Clinton will likely make when (sorry, if) she runs for president in 2016.” *Politico column: Roger Simon: “4 things Hillary can do to win” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/4-things-hillary-can-do-to-win-111673.html>* “Here are four dramatic things Hillary Clinton can do to win the presidency. Wait, did I skip the fact she has not yet announced for office? Yeah, I am skipping that.” *Politico: “Bill Clinton urges young voters away from ‘resentment’” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/bill-clinton-arkansas-voters-111669.html?hp=r1>* “He [Pres. Clinton] described his time teaching law at this school as among the happiest times he and his wife — possible presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton — experienced.” *Huffington Post opinion: Peter D. Rosenstein: “Hillary Rodham Clinton Represents the Unfinished Business of our Democracy” <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-d-rosenstein/hillary-rodham-clinton-re_b_5947288.html>* “Hillary Rodham Clinton holds in her hands the hopes and desires of many but none more than the women and girls here in the United States and those who look to the United States around the world.” *Mediaite: “Leon Panetta Defends Hillary from ‘Unfair’ Benghazi Criticisms on O’Reilly” <http://www.mediaite.com/tv/leon-panetta-defends-hillary-from-unfair-benghazi-criticisms/>* “A significant chunk of Bill O’Reilly‘s interview with Leon Panetta tonight was about Benghazi, as well as the Obama administration’s reaction to that infamous attack. At one point, Panetta defended Hillary Clinton and said she would have definitely acted on any security issues if she had been aware of them.” *National Review: “Panetta Hints He’d Take Hillary in a Match-Up Against Biden” <http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/389752/panetta-hints-hed-take-hillary-match-against-biden-brendan-bordelon>* “‘Hillary Clinton, I know could do the job,’ he continued, ‘because she’s somebody who’s got experience, she’s got the toughness of mind and commitment to this country that I think is important.’” *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hawk eyes 2016” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/220086-hawk-eyes-2016>* “Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for president in 2016 — but he says he’d like to debate Hillary Clinton.” *CNN: “Jindal is 'thinking and praying' about 2016 presidential run” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/politics/bobby-jindal-thinking-and-praying-2016/>* “He [Jindal] also slammed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, for making decisions the he believes has set America on a path for ‘more chaos, more conflict and more wars.’” *Articles:* *The Hill: “Clinton allies look to build tech advantage ahead of ’16” <http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/220085-clinton-allies-look-to-build-tech-advantage-ahead-of-16>* By Amie Parnes October 8, 2014, 6:00 a.m. EDT Hillary Clinton’s allies are building a technological advantage for her prospective presidential campaign, meant to scare Democrats thinking about challenging her in a primary and intimidate Republicans who would oppose her in the general election. It is an effort that allies — including former digital gurus to President Obama’s presidential campaigns — say will far exceed the current president’s campaign efforts, which broke new ground and relied heavily on digital platforms to fundraise as well as organize and mobilize supporters. The pro-Clinton super-PAC Ready for Hillary, for example, is on its way to targeting 3 million identified Clinton supporters who could be relied on to provide small-dollar contributions and come to the polls. The political action committee, which has received money from more than 100,000 donors, is using a so-called “ladder of engagement” that begins with a “please like our Facebook page” request and ends with an email asking the visitor to donate or volunteer for the campaign. Of the $4 million the super-PAC raised in 2013, $1.2 million was invested in digital advertising, the group’s largest expenditure, officials say. The PAC is also using the database to help Democrats in tight races around the country. That includes in Iowa, where it is helping Rep. Bruce Braley’s struggling Senate campaign — and where it could benefit Clinton in the 2016 caucuses. The super-PAC used the database to send emails to supporters in the state, asking them to join Clinton in supporting Braley by chipping in $5. “We can’t sit on the sidelines — we need to work as hard in 2014 as would if Hillary were on the ballot,” one email to Iowa supporters says. Within the next few days, the group will launch a “national call tool” that will allow supporters to make calls to voters in crucial 2014 states, a source familiar with the effort told The Hill. Should she decide to run early next year, Clinton would simply have to buy or rent the database to tap into the wealth of data the super-PAC has collected. Republicans acknowledge Team Clinton is “leaps and bounds” ahead of where it needs to be, as one put it. Tim Miller, the executive director of America Rising, the Republican super-PAC that has been targeting Clinton, said Republicans “need to realize this is an area where Clinton’s team is investing early, and where they’re going to invest, and we need to level the playing field.” Tony Fratto, who served as deputy press secretary to former President George W. Bush, also acknowledged that the Clinton operation has a running start. “It’s true that, in the digital space, having a head start can help,” Fratto said. “I don’t think there’s any question about it. … No one else has an organization to speak of, and that could be a huge advantage for her.” To be sure, the digital and tech outreach is far better than the lackluster tech operation Clinton had in 2008, which the Obama campaign pummeled at the time. Team Obama revolutionized modern campaigning, building a sophisticated and comprehensive database and using technology as both a fundraising and organizing tool to mobilize potential voters. “[The online effort] was much more aggressive because it was something they started earlier,” said Kevin Thurman, who served as Clinton’s deputy Internet director in 2008. “They were taking a large amount of data and making it more useful. We had to figure that stuff out.” Thurman also added that Obama’s 2008 supporter base, made up of many younger voters, gravitated toward that medium because they were looking for a different kind of candidate. In 2016, if Clinton chooses to run, she’ll be better positioned technologically, according to allies. For example, when Ready for Hillary relaunched its website in March, it had help from 270 Strategies, a firm that employs a number of the players who executed Obama’s digital strategy. Betsy Hoover, a partner at 270 who served as director of digital organizing for the 2012 Obama campaign, said the response rate to the Ready for Hillary site has been “huge,” and she said there’s a “definite infrastructure in place that will be helpful to the Clinton campaign.” And while Hoover stopped shy of saying whether it would keep other Democrats out of a presidential primary, Thurman, who is not currently involved in any Clinton operation, said the former secretary of State is well ahead of other potential competitors; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), he said, would come closest to having an online footprint. Sources at Ready for Hillary say the group’s main goal in starting the digital venture before the campaign would be for Clinton to take over the data it has gathered when she announces a bid for the presidency. Clinton, sources close to her say, learned her lesson on the digital front after her 2008 loss and became personally invested in trying to incorporate it more during her tenure at the State Department and beyond. In the immediate aftermath of her campaign, she started asking aides what she could have done better technology-wise in various states during the election. And when she arrived at Foggy Bottom, she invested resources to applying it around the world in the spirit of public diplomacy. One longtime Clinton aide summed up her embrace this way: “It’s gone from being relegated to the basement to the corner office. … Once it was all very second guess, and now everyone has realized it’s absolutely central.” *CNN: “Warren Buffett will bet you that Hillary Clinton wins in 2016” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/politics/buffett-clinton-2016/>* By Dan Merica October 7, 2014, 2:17 p.m. EDT Warren Buffett is so sure that Hillary Clinton will win the presidency in 2016, he is willing to wager some of his $58.2 billion net worth. "Hillary is going to win, yeah," Buffett, a outspoken Clinton supporter, said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit. "I will bet money on it. And I don't do that easily." But while Clinton has said she is thinking about running for president, she has yet to announce. Buffett suggested on Tuesday that her announcement is a forgone conclusion. "Hillary is going to run," said the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, later adding that "she is going to announce as late as possible." "I don't see how you could have anybody better qualified," Buffett told CNN's Poppy Harlow in an interview. "I like what she believes in. ... I think she's extraordinarily able and energetic for that matter in pushing those beliefs." Buffett has long supported Clinton -- he donated $2,000 to her Senate campaign in 2000. But the investor from Omaha, Nebraska, supported Clinton and then-Sen. Barack Obama in their fight for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Buffett was less sure about which Republicans would run for president, he said at the fortune event. "I don't know," he said. "Her opponent will be whoever wins the Republican primary and there are going to be a lot of people who want to do it." *MSNBC: “Panetta hitches raft to Clinton, jettisons Obama” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/panetta-hitches-raft-clinton-jettisons-obama>* By Alex Seitz-Wald October 7, 2014, 4:31 p.m. EDT Why do President Obama’s secretaries of defense keep trashing him? This week, former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta joins his predecessor, Robert Gates, in writing memoirs about their time in government that includes unvarnished criticism of their former boss. In Penatta’s book, “Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace,” and media interviews timed to its release, the Democrat says President Obama has “lost his way” and was wrong to withdraw all troops from Iraq. He also criticizes the president’s “failure” not to earlier arm so-called moderate Syrian rebels. Rather than assert initiative, Panetta writes, the president “avoids the battle, complains, and misses opportunities.” Gates went even farther in his book published in January, writing that the president made military decisions for political reasons. There’s a rich history of administration officials of both parties who have left government to write censorious books about a chief executive still in office. Besides these exposés’ stated goals of record straightening, truth-telling, and lesson-dispensing, the books often have more personal aims as well. After all, these former officials wouldn’t burn a bridge to the most powerful person in the world unless they had a compelling reason to do so, or at least feared no consequences. Some commentators have wondered why Panetta and Gates (and to a lesser degree former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) have shown such “stunning disloyalty” to the president, as the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote. Vice President Biden last week criticized the books as “inappropriate.” But Gates and Panetta never took a loyalty oath to Obama. Neither man owes Barack Obama for their careers, nor does he have anything to offer them in his final two years in office. There is little downside to them for speaking out, and plenty of upside. Call it a side affect of the much-vaunted “Team of Rivals” approach Obama took in arranging his cabinet. Gates was a Republican near the end of his career who was appointed defense secretary by George W. Bush and had served previously under Bush’s father. Obama, after winning election in 2007, had to practically beg Gates to stay on the job. Panetta, meanwhile, had already served as White House Chief of Staff and Budget Director under Bill Clinton. When Obama took office in 2009, Panetta was happily retired at his beloved walnut farm in California. Panetta owes a lot more to Bill Clinton than to Obama. who made the former House Budget Committee. And if anyone can offer Panetta anything of interest now, it’s not the lame duck Obama, but Clinton’s wife. Hillary Clinton and Panetta (and Gates before Panetta) were often allies in internal administration debates, countering the influence of the more dovish Biden. Now on the outside, Panetta seems to be doing as much as he can to use his accrued credibility to boost Clinton. In an interview with msnbc’s Andrea Mitchell Tuesday, Panetta was asked who was more qualified to be president – Clinton or Biden, who is also considering a bid. “They both could do the job as president. But, I think Hillary Clinton, because she is out there, is somebody that i think could be a very strong president,” he replied. On arming the so-called moderate Syrian rebels, the most contentious issue that divided Clinton and Obama during her tenure in the administration, Panetta staked out a position further from the White House than Clinton’s. While Clinton has said she “can’t sit here today and say that if we had done what I recommended…we’d be in a demonstrably different place,” Panetta is willing to go farther. “We would be in a better position to have in the rebel operation, a group that we would have worked with and helped arm,” he told Mitchell. That position vindicates Clinton’s support for arming rebels, while allowing her to stay closer to Obama,. On Benghazi, the biggest scandal on Clinton’s watch at State, Panetta offered another subtle, but notable assist to Clinton. She and former UN Ambassador Susan Rice have come under fire for using talking points that falsely stated the violence was the outgrowth of a protest, not a coordinated terror attack. But in his book, Panetta blames the CIA and its then-director, David Petraeus, for delivering faulty intelligence. “I remember saying [to Petraeus] look, based on the weapons I see and the nature of the attack, I think this was a terrorist attack. He said look, the information we are getting from intelligence sources is that it really was a demonstration. I said you know, David, I don’t see it that way,” he told Mitchell. The compound in Libya was essentially an intelligence operation with diplomatic cover. And in the aftermath of the attack, the CIA and the State Department fought a back-channel bureaucratic war over responsibility, evident in emails released by the White House that show the evolution of those infamous talking points. By tacitly siding with Clinton’s State Department, and against the CIA, Panetta bolsters Clinton on one of her biggest weakness with the credibility that only a former CIA Director can possibly bring to the table. The situation is more complicated for Clinton, who wrote her own memoir and used the accompanying media tour to criticize the president’s foreign policy. Her tenure as secretary of state has made her immeasurably stronger politically, and she’ll need the president’s supporters if she runs again. But Clinton did, of course, lose the presidential nomination to Obama in a contest largely centered on the two candidates’ positions on the 2003 invasion of Iraq. And she’ll also need to distance herself from the deeply unpopular White House if she runs again. Panetta, it seems, is ready to help. *Washington Post blog: The Fix: “Leon Panetta boiled down Democrats’ criticism of Barack Obama to one sentence” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/07/leon-panetta-boiled-down-democrats-criticism-of-barack-obama-to-one-sentence/>* By Chris Cillizza October 7, 2014, 2:59 p.m. EDT Former CIA director Leon Panetta was on "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on MSNBC on Thursday for an extended interview about the critiques he lobs at President Obama in a new book entitled "Worthy Fights". The most cutting -- and perhaps most insightful -- portion of the interview was when Panetta told Mitchell about his disagreement with Obama's approach to politics. "Too often in my view the President relies on the logic of the law professor rather than the passion of a leader," said Panetta. That simple sentence encapsulates much of the criticism that I've heard from Congressional Democrats (as well as many in the activist community) about President Obama for years. (That similarity is not an accident; Panetta spent almost two decades in the 1970s and 1980s in Congress as a House member from California.) There is a sense that Obama believes that simply proposing his argument is enough to carry the day. That the nitty-gritty horse-trading of the sort past Democratic presidents like Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton were legendary for is simply anathema to how he views politics and his role in it. Take the Affordable Care Act. Once it -- finally -- passed, Congressional Democrats kept waiting (and waiting) for President Obama to take the message reins and sell the hell out of it around the country. While Obama did do some barnstorming in support of the law, it was never to the extent -- or with the intensity -- that Democrats on the ballot in 2010 thought it should be. The losses they incurred -- especially losing control of the House -- were laid at the feet of Obama by many of the people who lost their seats and those Members of Congress they left behind. Since that debacle there has been an ever-present sense that the passion of Obama on the campaign trail in his 2008 election has never been matched while he has actually been in the White House. Obama as diffident -- or indifferent -- to the differences between what is good for him and what is good for the party has been a continuing source of frustration for Democrats in Congress. Not only, they believe, has he not been willing to really fight for his priorities but he also seems to not grasp that when he says things like "every single one" of his policies are on the ballot this fall, it makes their political lives that much harder. Some of this tension is natural -- and transcends parties. Presidents always have a certain way of doing things that they believe works because, well, it got them elected president. And Members of Congress always feel as though the president of their party isn't paying enough attention to them and their needs because he is too focused on his own political life. But, Panetta's comment does strike at the core of what many Democrats don't like or don't trust about Obama. They simply don't believe he understood/understands how Washington works -- Panetta said almost exactly that later in his interview with Mitchell -- and has never truly grasped that a single compelling argument alone isn't enough to change minds. What's fascinating about this gripe with Obama is how much it plays into a) the argument that Hillary Clinton made against him in the 2008 presidential primary and b) the argument Hillary Clinton will likely make when (sorry, if) she runs for president in 2016. That argument, in short: I have been there and done that. I know what it takes to move the levers of power in Washington -- and I am willing to do whatever it takes to make them move. That's a message that will appeal to many establishment -- and activist -- Democrats who feel as though they have spent the last six years with a Democratic president who didn't understand -- and didn't want to understand -- the realities of getting things done in D.C. *Politico column: Roger Simon: “4 things Hillary can do to win” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/4-things-hillary-can-do-to-win-111673.html>* By Roger Simon October 8, 2014, 5:01 a.m. EDT Here are four dramatic things Hillary Clinton can do to win the presidency. Wait, did I skip the fact she has not yet announced for office? Yeah, I am skipping that. And am I skipping her battle for the Democratic nomination? Yeah, I am skipping that, too. For now. I am going straight to the general election because the only way to get past Hillary fatigue is to get things over with quickly. So how does Hillary win the presidency? Should she play it cautiously and hope the Republicans nominate somebody so out of touch with the American people that she cannot lose? Or should she run a campaign of big risks and big rewards? Her nature may be to do the former. But some people I have been talking to suggest she do the latter. So here are four, somewhat startling things, she can do: 1. Hillary should announce she will serve only one term as president. I admit I was shocked when I first heard this idea. I couldn’t see any rationale for it. “The rationale for running for just one term is that you can say: ‘Here are the three or four big things I want to do in my administration, and I am going to pursue them without the distraction of reelection,” a top-flight Democratic strategist with presidential campaign experience told me. “She says: ‘I can try to accomplish what I want to and not be focused on my reelection 18 months after I get into office.’” Also, it would save her the enormous amount of time, focus and energy it takes to raise money for a second term, which by 2020, could be $5 billion or so. “It would send the message that we have a real agenda,” the strategist said. “It would say: ‘We are going to pursue economic growth, immigration reform, education reform and a sound foreign policy. We are going to keep the American people on our side, put pressure on Congress, drive our agenda and get something done.’” 2. Hillary should also require her running mate to serve for just one term. “I think requiring the same pledge from the vice presidential candidate would send the message we are not going to play politics for four years,” the source said. “I admit it’s a pretty ballsy thing to do.” The real question could be: Can you find someone who is willing to serve as vice president for just four years and then not turn around and run for president? 3. Hillary should not be afraid to choose a woman as a running mate. Think that’s risky? Maybe. But not really that much riskier than when Bill Clinton picked Al Gore as a running mate in 1992. The choice confounded those who believed tickets had to be “balanced” in terms of geography, age, religion, political leanings — or all of the above. Yet Clinton and Gore both were from the South, they were only 19 months apart in age, they were both Southern Baptists, and they were both moderates. And they both won. Twice. Some powerful women in the Democratic Party have already come out against the idea, however. “It’s certainly possible to have two women,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California told The New York Times in April. “I am not sure it’s wise. You want a ticket that represents men and women.” Ruth Mandel, director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, told the paper: “If Hillary Clinton decides to run, she will bring many women with her. Her candidacy would be a historic moment in mobilizing women’s interest. But whether she would put another woman on the ticket, that’s a very different calculus. As women, we tend to do our changes in increments.” But why get cold feet now? The Democrats have a deep field of qualified women, and there is no disputing the power of the women’s vote. Some 53 percent of voters in 2012 were women, and 55 percent of them voted for Barack Obama, compared with 44 percent who voted for Mitt Romney. Romney won the male vote by 52 percent to 45 percent, but it didn’t put him in the White House. Republicans who think they can spurn female voters and still win the presidency are probably kidding themselves. 4. Hillary should distance herself from Obama, not so much on issues as on attitude. One senior Democrat already has a theme for her: “I can work with people.” “If she has a specific agenda and the ability to work with people,” the strategist said, “then voters will assume she can get something done. It would be a big game changer.” *Politico: “Bill Clinton urges young voters away from ‘resentment’” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/bill-clinton-arkansas-voters-111669.html?hp=r1>* By Katie Glueck October 7, 2014, 2:13 p.m. EDT FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday made a tailored pitch to young voters, urging students to back Democrats on the 2014 ballot because they are “too young” to cast votes of “resentment.” Those comments came at the University of Arkansas’ flagship campus on the third stop of Clinton’s two-day, four-stop tour stumping for Arkansas Democrats. “Why are all these people trying to get you to cast resentment votes?” said Clinton, this state’s beloved former governor, of national Republicans. “You’re too young. You should be voting for what you’re for. …You should be voting for your dreams.” It was an echo of remarks he made a day earlier, when Clinton argued that the GOP was trying to convince Arkansans to view the midterm elections as their last chance to vote against President Barack Obama, who is deeply unpopular here. Clinton has been making the case that Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross should be viewed on their own merits, and that the national party is irrelevant in their races. But polls show that Ross is behind GOP candidate Asa Hutchinson and Pryor is in one of the closest races of the cycle, against Rep. Tom Cotton. Clinton’s emphasis here, speaking to a pavilion packed with cheering students, was more focused on the importance of the youth vote — a group that tends to back Democrats, but also tends to stay home during midterms. “The reason this keeps happening is, you don’t show up in midterms!” he admonished as he lamented congressional gridlock. As he did in earlier stops, Clinton noted that the polls show the Democrats either locked in close races or trailing — but said that was based on the assumption that young people don’t vote. “This is all about whether you show up,” he said here, saying that midterms are “every bit as important to your future as elections when there is a presidential candidate on the ballot.” Clinton zeroed in on issues like student loans and equal pay for men and women, hot-button issues for the base. But he couldn’t help waxing nostalgic about his past. He reminisced about the “broad-based prosperity” enjoyed during his administration. And he described his time teaching law at this school as among the happiest times he and his wife — possible presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton — experienced. “I got to live my dreams,” he said, hitting the podium as he reflected on the “six jobs” he worked through law school, the gig he held down as an undergrad and his eventual ability to pay down his student debt. He argued that the Democrats on the ballot want to make that kind of future more accessible for everyone — and that students here should care about that, too. Clinton, reminding the students to take the election personally, told the crowd: “I’ve got more yesterdays than tomorrows. You’ve got more tomorrows than yesterdays.” *Huffington Post opinion: Peter D. Rosenstein: “Hillary Rodham Clinton Represents the Unfinished Business of our Democracy” <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-d-rosenstein/hillary-rodham-clinton-re_b_5947288.html>* By Peter D. Rosenstein October 7, 2014, 2:26 p.m. EDT Hillary Rodham Clinton holds in her hands the hopes and desires of many but none more than the women and girls here in the United States and those who look to the United States around the world. She represents the fulfillment of what I am sure many of our fore-mothers erroneously believed about the Declaration of Independence and that was that they were meant to be included in these most famous lines, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Women learned and had confirmed for them again in the fight over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution that it wasn't true. The simple words of that amendment first written by Alice Paul in 1923 and finally passed by both houses of Congress in 1972 failed to get enough state legislatures to pass it. The sentiment rejected was, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." So our Constitution, admired by people around the world, is an unfinished document purposely not granting full equality to more than half the population. Its preamble reads, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." As late as the 1980's when the fight for the ERA was lost, Americans said they were not ready to ensure that women could see themselves in the statement 'We the People'. Hillary Clinton's election in 2016 would declare to the world that the United States is now ready to include all people in order to form a 'more perfect union'. GOP consultant Katie Packer Gage was quoted in a Hill newspaper article saying about Hillary, "Women are not necessarily a group that feels in need of a champion". She totally misses the point about Hillary. Hillary can be elected because at one time or another all people feel the need for a champion. She is more than just a champion for women's rights and the rights of girls to get a fair shot at success. She has become a champion for those who have worked their entire lives and fear not being able to leave their children a better life and safer world. Whether it is her work for the Children's Defense Fund, rebuilding the education system in Arkansas, fighting for healthcare for all Americans or as Secretary of State, she is a champion to many around the world. Champions aren't always universally loved. But even many of those who don't see her as their champion respect her intelligence and incredible work ethic. They understand, whether they agree with her or not, Hillary has lived her life guided by a steadfast set of principles leading her to help others be all they can be. Her faith has played a big part in her life and while she may not attend church each Sunday she is clearly a religious person. Brought up a Methodist she often attended services with her daughter at the Foundry United Methodist Church in the District of Columbia; a congregation with a strong commitment to community service. Many know that a Hilary Rodham Clinton campaign in 2016 will be different from the one her consultants crafted in 2008. Hillary appears to have reached a stage in her life where she is totally comfortable being true to who she is and speaking out as the brilliant and caring person she is. When Hillary's feelings and beliefs share the stage with her knowledge she always shines. When she doesn't follow a script written by campaign consultants but rather follows her heart she wins. Hillary Rodham Clinton is recognized as a world leader with more background and experience in policy and diplomacy than any person ever to run for President. Lest anyone forget her courage they must remember Hillary as the woman who stood up and spoke from her heart in 1995 at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. There she called on the world community "to protect women against violence, improve their access to health services and education and give them more self-determination." The most quoted line from that speech is; "It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and the world to hear, that it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights. It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls." No one could question that Hillary was a champion then. This is the Hillary Rodham Clinton who if she runs and is elected President in 2016 will move us another giant step toward forming a 'more perfect union' and finishing the business of our democracy. *Mediaite: “Leon Panetta Defends Hillary from ‘Unfair’ Benghazi Criticisms on O’Reilly” <http://www.mediaite.com/tv/leon-panetta-defends-hillary-from-unfair-benghazi-criticisms/>* By Josh Feldman October 7, 2014, 9:21 p.m. EDT A significant chunk of Bill O’Reilly‘s interview with Leon Panetta tonight was about Benghazi, as well as the Obama administration’s reaction to that infamous attack. At one point, Panetta defended Hillary Clinton and said she would have definitely acted on any security issues if she had been aware of them. O’Reilly brought up the frequent criticism that Clinton received multiple cables about security problems at the Benghazi consulate, but didn’t act. He asked if that’s fair or not. Panetta said, “I think it’s unfair, because if I know Hillary Clinton, if she knew there was a security problem in Benghazi, she would have done something about it.” When pressed by O’Reilly, Panetta said he’s not intimately familiar with the bureaucracy at the State Department, but insisted that if Clinton had been aware of any security issues, she would have acted. Watch the video below, via Fox News: [VIDEO] *National Review: “Panetta Hints He’d Take Hillary in a Match-Up Against Biden” <http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/389752/panetta-hints-hed-take-hillary-match-against-biden-brendan-bordelon>* By Brendan Bordelon October 7, 2014, 2:16 p.m. EDT Leon Panetta worked closely with both Vice President Joe Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton as CIA director and then secretary of defense. So it’s not surprising he was diplomatic when asked about a possible presidential matchup between the two, but it was easy to tell whom the former secretary of defense favors. “Who would be a better commander-in-chief?” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Panetta on Tuesday. “You know, it’s tough for me to kind of say that Joe Biden couldn’t do that job,” he said. “Because frankly Joe Biden has a lot of experience, particularly as vice president.” “Hillary Clinton, I know could do the job,” he continued, “because she’s somebody who’s got experience, she’s got the toughness of mind and commitment to this country that I think is important.” Panetta was former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff from 1994 to 1997, and it’s been suggested he’ll be angling for another White House post should Hillary win the White House in 2016. *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Hawk eyes 2016” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/220086-hawk-eyes-2016>* By Alexandra Jaffe October 8, 2014, 6:00 a.m. EDT Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for president in 2016 — but he says he’d like to debate Hillary Clinton. “I’m not giving anything away here, but I’d love to debate Hillary Clinton one on one,” he told The Hill, detailing his frustration with the former secretary of State and Democratic front-runner during a Tuesday interview at his political action committee’s downtown Washington offices. While there’s renewed talk of him running for the White House as foreign policy becomes an important topic on this year’s campaign trail, Bolton would rather discuss his efforts to “elevate national security in the national debate” through his PAC and super-PAwC — a timely endeavor making him a player in 2014. Th groups together have raised more than $6.5 million as of the last reporting period, and they plan to spend all of it on the midterm elections. As for 2016, he’s focused on the current elections and claims he has no timeline for making a decision on a presidential campaign. “I don’t know when, and I don’t know what the factors will be [in making the decision]. I’m focused on November, and I’ll just have to think about it when it’s over,” he said. But it’s clear the presidential race — and the likely skepticism he’d meet despite re-emerging as a respected voice within the GOP on foreign policy over the past year — is on his mind. Bolton is traveling to Florida, Arkansas, Illinois and New Hampshire to campaign for candidates over the next two weeks. And during his interview with The Hill, Bolton mentioned multiple times, unprompted, how the work of running a PAC has given him an inside look at how to run a campaign. “I’ve certainly learned a lot about how campaigns over the years, and candidates, have wasted money in politics,” said Bolton. “So, I’m trying to spend it in an effective fashion.” He said the political operation has “involved me in a lot of nitty-gritty that I think people who are running for office normally don’t get involved in,” essentially “how this business of running a campaign normally gets conducted.” If he runs, Bolton would be the rare presidential contender to never have been elected to public office. It’s even rarer that such candidates go on to win. He also took sharp jabs at two of his biggest potential rivals: Clinton, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Bolton went to Yale Law School a year behind Hillary and Bill Clinton, so, he jokes, “I’ve been burdened with them 20 years longer than the rest of the country.” But he pledges now: “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I accept her getting the presidential nomination. “Despite her efforts to distance herself from the administration, she would be Obama’s third term. She really hasn’t distanced herself from his foreign policy,” Bolton said of Clinton. And he’s not convinced by Paul’s sudden hawkish turn on foreign policy. The Kentucky senator, known as the leader of the growing libertarian strain within the GOP, recently departed from his typically noninterventionist stance on international conflicts to back military strikes on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Bolton suggested the shift in the party toward a more hawkish foreign policy might ultimately prevent Paul from running. “I think his ambitions are in conflict with his basic beliefs. And where he’ll be on any given day, obviously only he knows. But I think the fact he’s been shifting shows the politician’s instinct, that his troops may be moving in a different direction than he’d like to go,” Bolton said of Paul. “And so, where he comes out, or in fact whether he even runs now, I think is an open question.” But Bolton also suggested he’s open to embracing Paul, if his foreign policy conversion is genuine. “I believe in redemption, and there’s room for everybody if they see the light,” he said. He said he “welcome[d] the fact” that the rest of the 2016 Republican presidential field has shown a renewed focus on foreign policy and national security in recent weeks. He said he found Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s (R) Monday speech on the issue, as well as addresses by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in recent weeks, heartening. “I’ve talked to a lot of these folks, and I’m happy to talk to them at any point — I want people to dive into this and have a chance to gain more experience in it,” he added. Bolton launched his political apparatus last year with the aim of making foreign policy and national security issues in the midterms. He acknowledges that recent news events, more than his PAC efforts, have brought those issues to the forefront of the national debate. He has kept the focus of his PAC on foreign policy and has spent millions largely on digital ad campaigns, which Bolton sees as a wiser use of the money than costly TV campaigns. On Tuesday, the super-PAC launched a $5 million digital advertising campaign across New Hampshire, Arkansas and North Carolina. He said he’s “optimistic” on Republicans’ chances this fall. He said foreign policy could be a deciding issue in Colorado and Iowa, two competitive Senate races, where Republicans have a shot at picking up seats. “I’m pretty optimistic now, but I think there are a lot of idiosyncratic factors at work. I think the prospect of something happening on the international scene is very real, and we don’t know what the president’s reaction to it would be,” he said. But the president’s foreign policy, as it’s unfolded during his two terms, has been “weak and feckless,” and that’s why Obama is having such a drag on Democrats this year, Bolton said. “One reason Democratic candidates are fleeing from the Obama administration is the relationship between leadership as a general issue and leadership in foreign policy. And people see this as a badly failed presidency with a weak and feckless leader, when it comes to foreign policy, and they make the perfectly sensible jump from that to domestic policy too,” he said. In particular, Bolton said, Obama’s strategy to tackle ISIS “is manifestly failing already,” and “ISIS has already adapted to it.” “Instead of pursuing gradual escalation in order to prevent ISIS from consolidating its control over the territory it holds, we should’ve used the maximum force available to us.” But he says, even if Americans are paying attention to national security now, his efforts won’t end in November. “It’s not enough to say, Mr. X is now talking about foreign policy — problem solved. That doesn’t do it. And it doesn’t do it to have several Mr. X’s talking about foreign policy,” Bolton said. “It’s about restoring national security to where it should be on the priority list. So I see this as a long-term priority.” *CNN: “Jindal is 'thinking and praying' about 2016 presidential run” <http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/politics/bobby-jindal-thinking-and-praying-2016/>* By Marianna Sotomayor October 7, 2014, 3:56 p.m. EDT Washington (CNN) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said on Monday he was "thinking and praying" about a presidential run and said that an announcement could follow the midterm elections or "sometime after the holidays." If he decides to run, Jindal would likely be the first Republican candidate to announce his decision. Most potential challengers have said they are waiting until spring 2015. In his speech, Jindal tried to rouse hawks in the party by harshly criticizing President Barack Obama. "The Russian reset, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Europe, China, and the list goes on. In each of these areas, it's not just the President took too long to come up with an answer. It's that the answer was wrong," he said at an American Enterprise Institute event. Jindal called Obama's cutting back on defense spending "foolish" and "unacceptable" at a time when the administration has considered intervening in several foreign conflicts. The two-term governor went on to say that the U.S. is at war with ISIS and that the President's hesitancy to call it a fight is "a projection of weakness." He also slammed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, for making decisions the he believes has set America on a path for "more chaos, more conflict and more wars." "Today, we are living with the consequences of the Obama-Clinton ideas when it comes to foreign, domestic and defense policy... If only it had the help of a wise, steady hand, a policy expert in dealing with foreign affairs, he'd have come up with better answers. But instead he just had Hillary Clinton," he said. In a set of policy proposals, Jindal suggested that defense spending should be 4% of the country's GDP. He also called for increasing the Pentagon's funding, following the administration's decision to cut back $78 billion in 2011 as a way to decrease the deficit. In the interim before potentially launching his campaign, Jindal hopes to see the Republican Party take the initiative rather than being known as the opposition party. Jindal mentioned that several Republican members have sided with Obama in the past, including on defense spending cutbacks. "[The people] are frustrated with the President, but they have yet to hear a comprehensive alternative from the Republicans. All they heard so far is that we are opposed to many of his policies," he said. "What they are hungry for is a positive agenda from the Republican side." *Calendar:* *Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule.* · October 8 – Chicago, IL: Sec. Clinton stumps for Illinois Gov. Quinn (Chicago Sun-Times <http://politics.suntimes.com/article/washington/hillary-clinton-hitting-illinois-stump-gov-quinn/mon-09292014-1000am> ) · October 8 – Chicago, IL: Sec. Clinton keynotes AdvaMed 2014 conference ( AdvaMed <http://advamed2014.com/download/files/AVM14%20Wednesday%20Plenary%20Media%20Alert%20FINAL%209_30_14(1).pdf> ) · October 9 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Arkansas Sen. Pryor (AP <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month> ) · October 9 – Philadelphia, PA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf (AP <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month> ) · October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton and Sen. Reid fundraise for the Reid Nevada Fund (Ralston Reports <http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/hillary-raise-money-state-democrats-reid-next-month> ) · October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation Annual Dinner (UNLV <http://www.unlv.edu/event/unlv-foundation-annual-dinner?delta=0>) · October 14 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes salesforce.com Dreamforce conference (salesforce.com <http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/highlights.jsp#tuesday>) · October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/hillary-clinton-nancy-pelosi-110387.html?hp=r7> ) · October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Senate Democrats (AP <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month> ) · November 2 – NH: Sec. Clinton appears at a GOTV rally for Gov. Hassan and Sen. Shaheen (AP <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month> ) · December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of Conservation Voters dinner (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-green-groups-las-vegas-111430.html?hp=l11> ) · December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>)