With massive lead, Clinton works to shore up support in Congress

The 2008 presidential campaign left congressional Democrats bitterly divided between two favored candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — who at the time were Senate colleagues.

This year, Clinton is not taking any chances with her Capitol Hill support despite an enormous lead in the polls.

A day after announcing her candidacy, her campaign staff began contacting lawmakers, looking to shore up support among Democrats in the House and Senate, particularly those who might be less enthusiastic about her candidacy.

“I got an outreach call yesterday from her campaign,” Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., told the Washington Examiner Tuesday. “I haven’t made a commitment. I’ll say that.”

With an advantage of nearly 50 points in most public polls, Clinton also appears safely in the lead on Capitol Hill.

Most Democratic lawmakers appear eager to avoid an internal battle and are prepared to anoint Clinton as their nominee, despite the lure of more liberal-leaning alternatives including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent.

While Sanders has not made up his mind and Warren said she’s not running, Clinton isn’t leaving anything to chance.

Lawmakers serve as “super-delegates” at the Democratic convention, which gives each of them a vote on the nominee. They played a role in handing Obama the nomination over Clinton in 2008.

Clinton’s 2016 campaign is working with the most liberal leaning lawmakers to earn — and keep — their support, among them Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

“I’m talking to her and her staff about some issues that I want to see her move on,” Brown told the Examiner.

But Brown said he is willing to accept Clinton’s less liberal views, too.

“I don’t expect to agree with her position on everything,” Brown told the Examiner. “I think she’s progressive and I’m optimistic about her winning the race. She’s the nominee.”

For many Democrats, backing Clinton is a no-brainer, since many of them quickly lined up behind her seven years ago, when she also appeared to be unbeatable in her quest for the nomination.

“I supported her in ’08 and I’ll do it again,” Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, said definitively after a recent House vote.

Clinton in 2008 was supported by many House and Senate Democrats, until Barack Obama entered the race and quickly gained momentum.

“Then, it changed dramatically,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told the Examiner.

The mostly progressive Democratic caucus began abandoning Clinton and aligning themselves with the charismatic and liberal-leaning Obama as he moved up in public polling.

The dueling Obama and Clinton allegiances on Capitol Hill caused turmoil among House and Senate Democrats that many tell the Examiner they are eager to avoid this time around.

“People were very uncomfortable in ’08,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told the Examiner.

But the nomination is more than a year away and other potential Democratic candidates are waiting in the wings, including Sanders; former Sen. Jim Webb, of Virginia; former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley; and Vice President Joe Biden.

A cursory poll of Democrats in Congress easily turns up lawmakers who are less enthusiastic about Clinton and are waiting to see if another candidate will jump in the race.

“I would like to see a competitive race,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio told the Examiner. “We need someone with a great deal of experience in foreign policy and domestic policy — and someone who can show us they have actually delivered. I think that’s what campaigns are about.”

Eight years ago, Clinton enjoyed a 21-point advantage in an April 19, 2007, Fox News poll.

In a matter of months, then-freshman Sen. Obama was beating her in the polls and picking off her Capitol Hill support. Clinton won 21 states in the primaries — including New York, California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — and got more total votes than Obama, but he ended up getting the nomination.

Her advantage this time may be about who is missing from the race, say lawmakers.

“There is no Barack Obama out in the bushes waiting to be discovered,” Cleaver said. “That is not going to happen this time.”

So far, Webb and O’Malley earn about 1 percentage point each in polls.

Warren, Biden and Sanders earn about 12 percent, 11 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

“We’ll have some dalliances with other candidates,” Nelson said, “but I think it will be Hillary.”