Hillary Clinton’s official jump into the 2016 race for the White House came, as expected, on Sunday. But that was about the only thing that happened as anticipated.
The announcement was supposed to take place on Twitter around noon, according to multiple news reports, and with an accompanying video.
Instead, it came in the form of an email from John Podesta, a former adviser to President Obama, who sent it to alumni of Clinton’s first campaign for president in 2008 and some others. That email trickled its way onto social media.
The move baffled political reporters who eagerly anticipated a Twitter message from Clinton’s official Twitter profile.
Colin Campbell of Business Insider called it, “The tweet that wasn’t.”
Philip Bump, a politics blogger for the Washington Post, reacted to the announcement on Twitter. “Sooooooooooooooooooo was that it?” He wrote.
New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel said the campaign rollout was “one of the stranger announcements in memory.”
“Totally normal for a campaign to give supporters/donors a heads up about an announcement, but rare for it to leak before the actual thing,” said Time political reporter Zeke Miller.
