Hillary Clinton’s Person of the Year – Bloomberg Politics
This is an update to a story originally published Jan. 21, 2014
Adam Parkhomenko might be the ultimate Hillary Clinton groupie.
As a third-grader in 1995, he became enamored with the first lady when she visited his elementary school in the Virginia suburbs of Washington and encouraged the kids to get involved in politics. Then as a high school senior in 2003, he started a draft Hillary movement to prod her into Democratic presidential primary, parking his parents' Camry, filled with homemade Clinton bumper stickers and buttons, outside a speech the senator was giving in New York City. He put off college and worked on her 2008 presidential race and, when that bid failed, he started an online petition to convince Barack Obama to pick her as his running mate.
I felt I couldn't be at peace without showing her that her base still loves her and has expanded so much.
Adam Parkhomenko
But it has only been in the past two yearsand especially in 2014that Parkhomenko, 29, has put his obsession to work in a big way. He quit his job as a computer analyst and, along with frequent Clinton volunteer Allida Black, started a super-PAC called Ready for Hillary. It began with a budget of exactly nothing and was initially dismissed by Clinton's inner circle, but it has blossomed into a $12 million operation that's been adopted by marquee Clinton advisers and is in constant contact with 3 million fans across the country.
The super-PAC reached peak readiness in November, with a 200-donor mindmeld at a New York City hotel that included Stephanie Schriock, Guy Cecil, and other Clinton Worldelites.
If, when, Clinton announces her run for president thisyear, the organization can sell this entire hive to her campaign, which she can then put to work raising money and getting out the vote. In the meantime, Ready for Hillary has built unparalleled buzz. The success has inspired copycats: Ready for Warren. Draft Ben Carson. And so on.
I felt I couldn't be at peace without showing her that her base still loves her and has expanded so much, Parkhomenko said at the start of 2014. I want to give her every reason to run.
So for the past year, out of an office in Arlington, Va., with views of Capitol Hill, Ready for Hillary's 15-person staff has churned out champagne glasses and cellphone covers, dog parkas and baby onesies all emblazoned with the Hillary brand. In exchange for these goodies, the group gets donations and, more importantly, data on supporters. This summer, the group went mobile, steering a Ready for Hillary bus around the country. They've netted big checksup to the group's $25,000 self-imposed cap (so as to maintain the image of a grassroots operation)and collected $20.16 entry fees to Hillary happy hours. Parkhomenko led Ready for Hillary while (finally) finishing up college. During a political science class in fall 2013, his professor brought up the super-PAC for discussion. Parkhomenko didnt reveal that he was its founder.
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Hillary Clinton's Person of the Year - Bloomberg Politics