Clinton moves to end the primary quickly (Hillary Group)

As her rivals gasp in Iowa, the front-runner is locking down later states.
By Gabriel Debenedetti
11/21/15 05:48 PM EST
Updated 11/21/15 06:19 PM EST


NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — Hillary Clinton is moving aggressively to put the Democratic nomination out of reach for her rivals. From increased travel to the states voting in March to a reinvigorated push to reach $100 million in funds raised by year-end, the front-runner’s team is eager to capitalize on her recent climb in the polls to knock Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley out of the race quickly.

Certainly, the Brooklyn-based campaign is still spending a considerable chunk of its time on Iowa and New Hampshire — and running a rotation of fresh ads across both states. But she’s making moves in South Carolina and Nevada, dispatching high-profile surrogates, unleashing Bill Clinton, and even deploying cash to strategically useful state Democratic parties long before her rivals have anywhere near the organizational capacity to follow suit.
“Unlike Sanders, they have the resources to spend heavily beyond New Hampshire and Iowa, particularly in the Super Tuesday states where you need to have an expensive media presence,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University poll. “He can’t spread himself that thin, and the reality is that he hasn’t made the inroads into core communities, like African-Americans, that will make up the bulk of the Super Tuesday states. So he needs to score huge wins in Iowa and New Hampshire."

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But the audience members showing off Sanders paraphernalia at the Charleston County Democratic Party’s Blue Jamboree were largely white, unlike many of those carrying Clinton signs. The visible support for O’Malley was even less robust, with only one sign written in lipstick on the back of a Clinton sign.

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The campaign has been using its joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee and state parties to start spreading election-season cash and bolster local relationships: according to Federal Election Commission filings that landed on Friday, Team Clinton has sent funds to state parties in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Massachusetts. At the same time, Bill Clinton has been stepping up his own fundraising blitz for the campaign, scheduling at least 20 events this month, including eight in March states.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/hillary-clinton-south-carolina-216125#ixzz3sAyPFSdh