Stop Hillary PAC rolls out new team, readies message
The efforts to stop former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential bid before it even starts are escalating this week.
The "Stop Hillary" political action committee, which was incorporated in May, publicly announced its leadership team on Monday and plans to role out a hard-hitting video this week that dredges up the low-lights of Clinton's career.
"It will really remind people of who Hillary is, not who she says she is," Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for Stop Hillary PAC, told CBSNews.com. "It covers what she's done in the past, everything from Whitewater to Benghazi."
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While the video won't be airing as a television commercial, the PAC expects it to make a splash this week, showing what kind of brutal opposition Clinton should anticipate in the coming months and years.
Clinton, of course, hasn't announced whether she'll run for president in 2016. That, however, hasn't stopped her supporters from organizing. The political connections and resources that Hillary Clinton has at her disposal, combine with the resources of her husband former President Bill Clinton and President Obama, could be "a destructive power, we feel, for elections to come," Marquis said.
"Her machine is already in place, it's now a matter of turning on the switch," he continued. "We need to get a place where we can also turn on that switch and oppose her wherever she might go."
Furthermore, Marquis said Stop Hillary PAC isn't just focusing on Clinton's potential 2016 run, but also the political support she'll give to 2014 candidates. If the former secretary of state plans any political stops over the next year in Virginia, for instance, the PAC plans to be there to counter her message. Their campaign is likely to include email marketing, direct mail, mobilizing grassroots opposition and television ads.
"Wherever Hillary goes as a candidate herself or whether she's supporting someone," Marquis said, "we expect to be there."
There are other organizations devoted to slowing down Hillary Clinton's political momentum, such as the America Rising PAC led by former staffers for the Republican National Committee and the Romney campaign. Marquis said that the Stop Hillary PAC, with Colorado state Sen. Ted Harvey at the helm, stands apart for its grassroots focus.
"We are not looking to do high-level fundraising in New York City, we're not looking to resurrect the Romney organization," he said. "Our sole objective is to beat Hillary Clinton, and we're ready to put our heads down and go to work."
