Like an unkillable zombie, she’s back.Well, she never really left, did she?
Hillary Clinton is the undead. Nearly three years after her humiliating defeat to President Trump, the two-time loser is the talk of the political world. Everyone wants to know one thing: Will she or won’t she? Even conservative blogger Matt Drudge got in on the act Tuesday, posting a picture of Clinton wearing a witch’s hat with the all-capitals headline: “Dem Halloween: Hillary leaves door open.”
Just days before All Hallow’s Eve, Clinton is rising from the dead to skulk across the misty moors.
Clinton and daughter Chelsea were at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday hawking their new book when a moderator brought up 2020. “All that matters is that we win,” Clinton said, according to KGW8-TV.
“I hate to be so, you know, simplistic about it. We have to nominate the best —” she said. Just then, an audience member interrupted, yelling: “You!”
“Oh, my. Well, thank you,” Clinton said with a smile. But instead of shooting down the notion, she plowed straight into a campaign speech. “I just feel so strongly that, look, I just want to say a little bit more about this, because what’s going on now with the impeachment inquiry is not a choice; it was an obligation under the Constitution.”
This has become an annual ritual. Back in 2018 — right around Halloween — Clinton was asked, “Do you want to run again?”
“No, no,” she replied, prompting laughter. Then she added: “I’d like to be president.” Uh
But by March she was definitely back out. Now, though, the stories are coming with a furious pace. “Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, ‘Is There Anybody Else?’” The New York Times wrote on Tuesday.
“When a half-dozen Democratic donors gathered at the Whitby Hotel in Manhattan last week, the dinner began with a discussion of which presidential candidates the contributors liked. But as conversations among influential Democrats often go these days, the meeting quickly evolved into a discussion of who was not in the race — but could be lured in,” the piece said, before offering up former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Clinton.
“Democrats’ 2020 race has a new shadow: Hillary Clinton,” The Associated Press also wrote Tuesday.
“The first woman to win a major party presidential nomination — and the national popular vote leader with almost 3 million more votes than Trump — Clinton remains a popular figure in her party, even after enduring criticism for losing key Midwestern states to Trump,” AP wrote.
On Monday, The New York Times wrote a fawning piece headlined, “Hillary Clinton, Master Troll?” The piece included this subheadline: “Freed of the constraints of public office, Clinton seems to be living her best life.”
And Clinton has been out there pitching herself — as she has been for nearly three years — with endless book tours and repeated appearances on networks controlled by friendly liberals.
“We have very admirable candidates vying for the nomination, but at the end of the day there are a lot of forecasters that are saying, ‘Look, if the economy stays in good shape and he’s not impeached or he’s impeached but not convicted, it’s going to be very, very hard because of all of the advantages he will have,’” Clinton said in Portland.
Last week, Clinton went further, saying “maybe there does need to be a rematch. Obviously, I can beat him again,” referring to her pulling in 3 million more votes than Trump (although he crushed her in the Electoral College by 304-227).
Not everyone is excited about the prospect of Clinton entering the 2020 race. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said Monday in New Hampshire: “We need to focus on winning this election talking about the urgencies that we have before us.
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, meanwhile, thinks Clinton will jump in. “She is running. She’s just throwing to decide how to fit her way in,” he said. “She is a very formidable candidate.”
Dick Morris, a former longtime adviser to Bill Clinton, also now says Clinton is likely running.
“There’s a test you can do at home,” Morris said Sunday on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York AM 970 radio. “Just put your fingers on her wrist, and if you feel a pulse, you know she’s going to run.”
If it’s Halloween, the undead come out to play. And that includes Hillary Clinton.
She really might have one more life after all.
*Joseph Curl ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2014 and covered the White House for a dozen years. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at @JosephCurl. A version of this article ran previously in The Washington Times.
