WASHINGTON — Several influential Democratic senators are boosting a progressive activist group’s campaign aimed at pushing Hillary Clinton to adopt left-leaning policies as she readies her all-but-certain presidential campaign.
Signatories to the amorphously titled “Ready For Boldness” campaign led by the Progressive Chance Campaign Committee now include Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who is retiring after 2016, as well as some 5,000 others including House progressives, state-level politicians and former U.S. senators.
The drive has been boosted with statements of support from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).
The effort calls on the Democratic nominee to “campaign on big, bold, economic-populist ideas” including specific proposals like expanding Social Security benefits, breaking up big Wall Street banks, debt-free college, reducing the influence of “big-money,” boosting clean energy and “ensuring that working families share in the economic growth they help create.”
It represents the latest effort by progressive activists to influence the direction of the 2016 election and the expected campaign by Clinton, whom they accept will likely be the Democratic nominee but remain skeptical of.
The ideological push from within may represent the most significant pressure that Clinton will face in the primary contest. She is miles ahead of her prospective opponents, enjoying the backing of a whopping 66 percent of Democratic voters in a recent ABC-Washington Post poll. Tied for second place with 12 percent were Warren, who has said she won’t run, and Vice President Joe Biden, who is uncertain to run.
