WASHINGTON (AP) – Waves of campaign staffers are being dispatched to battleground states. Advisers are starting to consider locations for a splashy convention rally in Philadelphia. An army of lawyers is scrutinizing more than two dozen possible vice presidential picks.
Though she has yet to clinch the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and her team are taking early steps into a general election campaign. Aides are working under the assumption that Republican front-runner Donald Trump will be her opponent.
Six months before the presidential election, they’re looking beyond primary rival Bernie Sanders and preparing their candidate and party for what may be a hard-fought – and personally ugly – fall campaign.
Starting this week, Clinton campaign employees are heading to battleground states across the country, among them Ohio, Florida and Colorado. Democrats are also eyeing the possibility of making a run at traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, calculating that Trump’s penchant for controversy could put minority and female voters in play.
“Everybody’s got their game face on,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who was going to South Dakota on the weekend to campaign for Clinton.