Hillary hits the road, will solve mysteries

It’s possible that you can take the idea of “low key” a bit too far when launching a presidential campaign. Following the success of the Chappaqua, New York grandmother uploading a video to YouTube, she was ready to hit the road. Literally. In a van.

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Clinton left Sunday on a road trip from her home in Chappaqua, New York, in a van headed for Iowa, home of the nation’s first presidential caucuses.

The former secretary of state announced her Democratic presidential bid Sunday and will hold her first campaign event on Tuesday in eastern Iowa. The road trip was Clinton’s idea, aides said.

“When Hillary first told us that she was ready to hit the road for Iowa, we literally looked at her and said, ‘Seriously?’ And she said, ‘Seriously,’” said longtime aide Huma Abedin in a conference call with Clinton alumni. “This was her idea, and she’s been really excited about it since she came up with it.”

Normally, when I see a candidate pulling a stunt like this and the staff is bending over backward to point out that it was her idea I’m a bit dubious. After all, it’s the job of the staff to keep the spotlight on the real star of the show and attribute any great ideas to them even if it was cooked up in a consultants meeting and focus group tested for weeks before she ever heard about it. However, in this case I can believe that Hillary thought this up. Their first “campaign event” was apparently at a gas station, running into a family from Michigan who were “surprised” to be accosted by the former senator for a frank conversation as they waited in line for some Slim Jims and coffee. I suppose it was a roaring success in those terms.

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It’s also worth noting that Huma Abedin is back on the scene. We hear plenty of speculation about Bill Clinton’s role in the campaign and what sort of issues might crop up due to his knocking around on the campaign trail, but with Huma remaining in a prominent position she brings Anthony Weiner back into the mix. If nothing else there should be some new protocols in place for the use of personal cell phones and Twitter accounts.

Another sign that this plot wasn’t hatched by a professional campaign team was the van’s nickname.

A Clinton aide said the van is nicknamed “Scooby” after the Mystery Machine van in the 1970s animated television show, “The Scooby Doo Show.” The aide said Clinton was a passenger and the van was driven by the Secret Service.

Ruh roh, Shaggy. She’s in it to win it, and if it weren’t for you darned kids, she just might get away with it.

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