The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> ENERGY IN THE EXECUTIVE br> So Senator Hillary Clinton has a presidential campaign headquarters and it has both a Washington and New York address. /p>

With the announced move of Clinton fundraiser Patti Solis Doyle over to the Glover Park Group, it might as well be called Clinton '08 Headquarters.

The Glover Park Group is a communications and corporate and political consulting firm founded by longtime Clinton/Gore rat packers Carter Eskew and Joe Lockhart, as well as former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee director and Hill Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson and Hillary Clinton adviser Gigi Georges, who manages the firm's New York office.

When Sen. John Kerry's campaign foundered in the late summer, Democrats turned to Glover Park for help. Lockhart signed on as the campaign's communications guru. Wolfson was also involved in the campaign, though due to internal campaign power struggles, was never formally brought on board.

Senator Clinton has signed what amounts to a six-figure retainer for the group, which, according to sources, locks down Wolfson and Georges, and at times Lockhart should she decide to run for re-election to the Senate in 2006. Doyle until a few weeks ago served as Clinton's national political director of HillPac, her senatorial political action committee.

It's important to recall that Georges in particular, as well as longtime Clinton ally Harold Ickes, are strong New York state operatives, and Clinton may be looking at another office to run for in '06, one that might further burnish her political and management background, say a governorship of large northeastern state.

There has been a growing buzz that Clinton is not wholly satisfied that she can run for the presidency as a U.S. Senator, and junior Senator at that. Lord knows it didn't work out so well for John Kerry.

But Clinton would find running for governor of New York to be perhaps a far greater challenge than some inside the Beltway might think, though with some potential, long-term upside.

"Her campaign would have to address the 'Will she run for president in two years?' question everywhere she goes, and she would have to answer it more honestly than her husband did back in '90," says a former President Clinton staffer. "That said, six years as governor of New York and then running for President certainly gives you everything you'd want for a résumé. There is a ton of political calculation there, but it would be awfully ballsy to pull off, and I'm not sure even the Clintons think that far ahead."

Regardless of what Clinton runs for, Patti Solis Doyle's presence at Glover Park is a sign that that firm will be the political beehive for whatever Clinton decides to do. Doyle will most likely oversee fundraising for Clinton's re-election account, as well as coordinate national and in-state donor programming for Clinton, according to a Clinton Senate staffer. "I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more Clinton people end up over there, too," the staffer said.

topics:
Hillary Clinton, Business, Environment, NATO, Energy