TO: Our volunteers and supporters
FROM: Robby Mook, Campaign Manager, Hillary for America
DATE: June 9, 2015
RE: The Next Phase of the Campaign


Team Hillary,

Less than two months ago, Hillary kicked off our campaign. There were no volunteers or offices in the states, no Facebook page and no infrastructure. She literally started from scratch. I'm proud to share that today—because of you and thousands of other supporters who have generously donated your time, talent and resources—we have more than 11,000 active volunteers in all 50 states, every territory and the District of Columbia, hundreds of thousands of donors and 15 offices open in the four early states, with more to come soon. As our “ramp up” period concludes, I want to celebrate what we’ve accomplished together and anticipate what's ahead.

While we've been working with you to build our campaign organization, Hillary has been meeting face-to-face with Americans across the country—asking questions about what they want from their next President and sharing her ideas on what we can do to make the words "middle class" mean something again. On Saturday, she will outline her vision for America's future and her roadmap to help everyday American families get ahead and stay ahead. Following that, we will hold organizing house parties if every Congressional district in the country.

Without you, our volunteers and supporters, Saturday's efforts would not be possible. Thank you.

Now for what's ahead. Becoming the Democratic nominee is never easy. Nor should it be. Voters and caucus-goers want to know their candidate is tested and ready to represent their values and priorities in the general election. While we know all that Hillary has done in her life to stand up for our families and our country, we also know that she'll have to work hard to earn every vote and every delegate. Hillary made clear from the outset that she will fight for every caucus-goer and every Democratic primary voter in every state, territory and the District of Columbia. We are taking absolutely nothing for granted.

Nor can we afford to. The historic evidence is clear that every nomination contest is tough for a non-incumbent:

  • Iowa and New Hampshire are not landslide states: Since 1972, the only people to win more than 50% of the caucus delegates in Iowa were sitting Presidents or Vice-Presidents or the home state Senator. In the 2004 and 2008 contests, no candidate even broke 40%. In New Hampshire, no Democrat in a contested primary in the last 25 years has won by more than 27,000 votes or received more than 50% of the vote. Even running unopposed in 2012 as the incumbent president, President Obama received around 80% of the primary vote. There will be no landslides or blowouts in either Iowa or New Hampshire. A win is a win and we will fight hard to earn that win.
  • The field is competitive: In the last two weeks alone, we have seen three new candidates enter the Democratic primary. And polls show that our party wants that competitive primary: a Bloomberg poll in April showed that 72 percent of Democrats and independents believe the party would be best served by a robust primary.
  • We must expect more desperate attacks from the GOP: The Republican field grows every day with a variety of new candidates with two things in common: they are all out-of-touch with everyday Americans and they all have offered little more than attacks on Hillary Clinton. Since Republicans have no real solutions to offer middle class families, except the same top down policies that crashed our economy under George W. Bush, they're resorting to half-baked attacks. We will continue to push back with the facts but will stay focused on Hillary's agenda to build an economy for the future that works for everyday Americans.

In the coming months, poll numbers will shift up and down and expectations will be set too high and too low. One thing will remain the same: we have a strategy to win based on two things: Hillary's vision for our future and her plan to build a strong organization in states to turn our supporters out to vote. We will remain focused on communicating Hillary's vision and working with you to build our operation on the ground.

Building that strong organization on the ground is not only imperative for the primary, it is also an opportunity for you and our party to build local infrastructure that can fight for our values for a long time to come. As Hillary has said many times, this campaign isn't about her, it's about us and our future—and the stakes could not be higher.

Our staff and I are here to support you as you build this operation from the ground up. This is your campaign. And with your help, we will face this tough fight and we will win.

Thank you for all you’ve done to make history—it's a privilege to be on this team with you.