Dem Strategist Doubts Third Clinton White House Run, Touts Booker

Democratic strategist and fundraiser Al Mottur dismissed a flurry of new reports that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is thinking seriously of making a third run for president, but he believes she is still a major player in national politics.

“I think she’s still in the fight, but I don’t think she’s going to run for president,” Mottur told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” Friday night. “She’s done a lot in her career and [is] doing a lot to help Democrats across the country.”

“She’s raising money now prolifically for Democrats under the age of 35,” he continued, “which I think is a great thing for our party. But I think it’s likely she’ll stand on the side and let others run.”

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Mottur is a political strategist, lobbyist, and leading Democratic fundraiser who was also a member of Clinton’s national finance leadership team. He was joined on “The Ingraham Angle” panel by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who predicted that a run by the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee could be a huge problem for Democrats.

“Imagine that you’re a red-state Democrat in Indiana or Missouri, and now you’re going to be asked about Hillary Clinton running again,” Gingrich said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Gingrich’s point was reinforced by a September Gallup Poll, which confirmed “that Clinton’s image remains in a rut nearly two years after she lost the presidential contest in 2016. Her favorable rating is down 7 percentage points from where it stood on the eve of the election.”

Clinton was heavily favored to defeat then-Republican nominee Donald Trump decisively right up until the votes were counted; and her party and its allies in the mainstream media have been in a state of shocked disbelief for much of the time since November 2016.

“She’s raising money now prolifically for Democrats under the age of 35, which I think is a great thing for our party. But I think it’s likely she’ll stand on the side and let others run.”

Mottur offered some thoughts on the seemingly huge field of potential candidates on the Democratic side who are thinking of hitting the hustings for the 2020 presidential campaign. He noted that Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has made a name for himself as an outspoken senator. Booker was one of the Democrats on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary who led the party’s opposition to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“I actually do think Sen. Booker could unite the party,” Mottur said. “He’s definitely gone more to the Left from where he was, you’re right about that. But he has great charisma, a former Division I athlete, mayor of Newark. I think he’s one of our five or six best folks in the running.”

During the Kavanaugh controversy, Booker described himself at one point in the hearing as having had a “Spartacus moment” in threatening to break committee rules by releasing confidential documents.

Booker was referring to the classic movie “Spartacus,” about the leader of a failed Roman slave rebellion.

Gingrich said he believes Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is more likely to win the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nod because she is a black woman with a law enforcement record as her state’s former attorney general.

Related: Hillary Clinton: The Country’s in Crisis, and It’s All Trump’s Fault

Mottur said Democrats first have to worry about winning back control of at least one chamber of Congress in the November 6 midterms. Kavanaugh and the highly contentious nomination process to which he and his family were subjected has given momentum and energy to Republicans.

There is also a new caravan of an estimated 4,000 migrants marching north from Central America, seeking to traverse Mexico and enter the U.S. The caravan has handed President Donald Trump a convenient campaign tool for driving home his case for building a wall on the U.S. border to stop the flood of illegal immigrants, crime, and drugs coming into the country from Mexico.

“I think we’re losing the messaging battle on this issue,” Mottur said. “Democrats are actually for security, borders, and the rule of law. But you wouldn’t know it if you listened to the president. We’re not good at responding, and what we need to do in 2020 and 2018 is respond with more vigor to these things.”