Hillary Clinton's campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod sent out a memo containing "talking points" for "friends and allies" on Friday afternoon.
Business Insider obtained a copy of the memo, which includes a preview of Clinton's speech Saturday and details of the campaign's early efforts in primary states.
There has been much speculation about the role Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, will play in his wife's campaign. The memo notes Clinton is "expected" to attend the speech, but will not be speaking.
"President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are expected to attend, but the speaking program will feature Hillary Clinton exclusively," the memo said.
The memo, which was designed to help Clinton's supporters and campaign surrogates stay on message, also credits Clinton with taking "bold progressive stands on key issues" including "criminal justice reform,""immigration reform," and "voting rights," and "equal pay." The preview of Clinton's Saturday speech echoes what a Clinton campaign official told Business Insider about the remarks on Thursday.
Clinton announced her presidential campaign in April. So far, she has been in what her team has described as a "ramp up" phase with relatively small-scale events in early primary states. Saturday's speech will be the kickoff of a new phase of Clinton's campaign. The "talking points" memo sent out by Elrod included a segment on what "comes next" for Clinton's campaign including her plan to detail more specific policies "in the coming weeks and months."
"Hillary Clinton will lay out her vision on a range of economic issues that are key to helping everyday Americans get ahead and stay ahead," the memo said.
The memo also details Clinton's plans for the days immediately after the launch including events in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"The campaign has said we expect a competitive primary, and we’ve taken nothing for granted since the start of the campaign. This trip is the latest example that our focus is on the early four primary states and winning the nomination," the memo said.
The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the memo.
Read the full memo below:
From: Adrienne Elrod
Date: Fri, Jun 12, 2015
Subject: 06/12/15 Friends & Allies Talking Points - Kickoff Event
All - we hope you find the following talking points (also attached) on tomorrow's formal announcement speech at Four Freedoms Park in NYC helpful. Thanks! AE
Friends and Allies Talking Points
Hillary for America
Pre-Kickoff
Following a highly productive “ramp up” period, Hillary Clinton will kick off the next phase of her campaign with a formal announcement speech June 13 at Four Freedoms Park in New York City.
I. FOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS TO EXPECT FROM THE SPEECH
On Saturday, Clinton will offer her most expansive remarks so far outlining her motivation for entering this race, what she believes is at stake in this election, and what she would seek to accomplish as President. Her speech will deliver four key messages:
1. WHAT MOTIVATES HER: Hillary Clinton will talk about how her upbringing forged her commitment to helping others. In particular, she will discuss how the example of her late mother—who was abandoned as a child—taught her how every child needs a champion to have a true shot to succeed.
· From her mother’s example, Hillary Clinton learned that -- whether it’s a relative or a teacher, a coach, a neighbor, or a President – every child needs someone in his or her corner.
· This belief has fueled her entire career’s worth of work on behalf of children and families, from her first days as a young lawyer for the Children’s Defense Fund to her time as First Lady to her tenure as Secretary of State.
2. WHO SHE IS FIGHTING FOR: Clinton will outline her guiding principle that the true measure of America’s success shouldn’t be how those at the top are doing, but how our families are doing.
· Hillary Clinton believes that the most important measure of our country’s economic success isn’t the size of corporate profits or the size of CEO bonuses, but the strength of our families – no matter what shape they may take.
3. HER VISION FOR THE COUNTRY: The central question in this race is whether you’re on the side of everyday Americans: whether you have the solutions to address the problems facing American families and the ability to deliver.
· Throughout our history, we’ve learned that real and lasting prosperity is only possible when everyone does their part and everyone receives the rewards they’ve earned. Prosperity can’t just be for the CEOs and the hedge fund managers. It’s for every American.
· Hillary Clinton believes it is the hardworking, everyday Americans who brought this country back and it is their time to their rewarded. When they succeed, America succeeds.
· She will preview several critical issues that she will make major announcements on in the coming weeks and months.
4. WHAT THE CHOICE IS IN THIS ELECTION: This election will offer a clear and unmistakable choice between Hillary Clinton’s ideas and the Republicans’ top-down economic policies and out-of-touch social policies.
· Republicans think it’s time to go back to the old top-down playbook that failed us before. They think it’s time for lower taxes for the super-rich and fewer rules for the biggest corporations. We’ve seen this before. And we can’t let it happen again.
II. WHAT YOU WILL SEE ON SATURDAY
· The launch event’s venue of Four Freedoms Park, located on New York’s Roosevelt Island, has symbolic meaning to Hillary Clinton. She has long been inspired by FDR’s belief that America is stronger when we summon the work and talents of all Americans. Her fight, like his, is to work to ensure that everyday Americans can achieve not just a sense of economic stability, but of lasting prosperity.
· We are expecting an enthusiastic crowd to hear from Hillary Clinton as she launches this campaign. In fact, we had to stop accepting ticket requests a full five days out from the event because the volume of RSVPs had far exceeded the venue’s capacity.
· The pre-program will include music by performers from New York City.
· The event will be emceed by Marlon Marshall, Hillary for America’s Director of Early States and Political Engagement. He will provide attendees with an update on the campaign’s organizing efforts and explain how they can become more involved.
· President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are expected to attend, but the speaking program will feature Hillary Clinton exclusively.
III. HOW WE GOT HERE: WRAPPING UP THE CAMPAIGN’S “RAMP UP” PERIOD
BUILDING A GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION: When Hillary Clinton announced she was running on April 12, there was tremendous grassroots energy and excitement but no organization to harness it. Two months later, at our end of the “ramp up” period, we’ve made great progress in building a grassroots-driven organization designed to win the Democratic nomination and dedicated to Hillary Clinton’s agenda.
In the four early states alone, there are several key milestones of our early success:
· 15 Offices, with more to come
· 3,874 One-on-One Meetings with Potential Supporters
· 11,869 Commitments to Volunteer
Beyond the early primary states, her campaign organization is building out to compete for the nomination in all 50 states and the territories. We have seen tremendous signs of progress in these efforts:
· 51 Organizers Building Volunteer Networks in the 46 non-Early Primary states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Territories
· 320 Grassroots Organizing Meetings held or scheduled in the non-Early Primary States
· Nearly 11,000 attendees at Grassroots Organizing Meetings in non-Early primary States
CONNECTING DIRECTLY WITH VOTERS: In April, Hillary Clinton made clear she intended to run a different kind of campaign– one that was squarely focused on having a conversation with voters. In her repeated visits to the four early states, she has done just that. For instance:
· In Iowa, she held roundtables at a community college and at a fruit company to discuss education and growing small businesses. Later, she visited a bike shop for a roundtable on small business and the home of an Obama 2008 supporter for an organizing meeting.
· In New Hampshire, she visited a child toy manufacturer and another community college to address rural economic problems and access to higher education. Later, she visited Smuttynose Brewery to talk about growing small businesses.
· In Nevada, she sat down with DREAMers and immigration reform advocates to discuss and propose commonsense solutions for our broken immigration system.
· In South Carolina, she is meeting with minority small businesswomen and then rallying a group of Democratic women.
TAKING BOLD, PROGRESSIVE STANDS ON KEY ISSUES: In the coming weeks and months, Hillary Clinton will lay out her vision on a range of economic issues that are key to helping everyday Americans get ahead and stay ahead. But even before those announcements, Clinton has already drawn attention for outlining aggressive solutions on issues from immigration reform to criminal justice reform.
· Criminal Justice Reform. In New York, as a part of her fight to strengthen families and communities, she laid out her vision for reforming our criminal justice system, including calling for an end to the “era of mass incarceration” and for all police departments to have body cameras.
o Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton Pushes Criminal-Justice Proposals in Baltimore Aftermath
o Vox: Hillary Clinton just gave one of the most important speeches of her career
o NYT’s Charles Blow praises “strong speech” on “police/prison reform.”
· Epidemic of Drug Abuse. Additionally, in New Hampshire and Iowa, she has discussed the urgent need to tackle the “quiet epidemic” of drug abuse, especially in rural and suburban communities.
o Huffington Post: Hillary Clinton Campaign Begins Drafting Policy Solutions To Heroin Epidemic
· Immigration Reform. In Nevada, she tied immigration reform to her push to strengthen families and communities by calling for us to go further in shielding DREAMers and their families from deportation by establishing a new review process for sympathetic cases and parents of DREAMers.
o Buzzfeed: Hillary Clinton Just Won Over Much Of The Skeptical Immigrant Activist Movement
o Washington Post: Clinton speaks forcefully for path to citizenship for illegal immigrants
o Univision: Hillary: “Es hora de buscar una solución a nuestro sistema roto de inmigración”
· Voting Rights: In a highly regarded speech in Texas, Clinton decried Republican-passed state laws imposing unfair restrictions on the right to vote and urged Congress to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court. She also unveiled signature proposals to guarantee a minimum of 20 days of early voting in every state and enacting universal voter registration that would automatically enroll 18-year-olds.
o New York Times: Hillary Clinton, Voting Rights and the 2016 Election
o MSNBC: Hillary Clinton lays out sweeping voting rights vision
· Equal Pay. In South Carolina, she called out Republicans for continuing to obstruct women’s access to fair pay, issuing her strong support for not only passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, but also for increased pay transparency across the economy, paid leave and flexible scheduling, and raising wages for America’s lowest paid jobs, which are disproportionally held by women.
o The State: Clinton pushes equal pay for women in SC stop
o Guardian: Hillary Clinton lambasts Republican obstruction on equal pay for women
IV. WHAT COMES NEXT FOR THE CAMPAIGN
· For the first two months of the campaign, Hillary Clinton focused on smaller events where she could interact with voters directly. That’s how she wanted to start this campaign – asking questions, answering questions and sharing ideas. She made it clear to voters in the early primary states that they are her focus – this campaign is about them – and saw great in-state coverage of her trips.
· Now, with her Official Launch Event this Saturday, June 13th, the focus of her campaign travel moves to a new phase.
· Immediately after her Official Launch Speech this Saturday, Hillary Clinton will embark on a weeklong swing across the early four primary states. On the trip, she’ll showcase:
o Grassroots Organization. The campaign has steadily begun building out a grassroots organization during the “ramp up” that we’ll now take to the next level. We will get more and more people involved in a person-to-person program that really makes individuals part of the campaign. Hillary Clinton will continue to say to groups that “it’s your time” – a rallying cry she invokes for building this volunteer-focused organization. With over 20,000 volunteers identified during the “ramp up,” the focus will now turn to our staff and volunteers making one-on-one contact with caucus goers and primary voters. Hillary Clinton will travel to the early primary states to bring more people into the organization.
o Her Story. During this phase of the campaign, we’re going to complete telling the story of Hillary Clinton. Nearly every American knows Hillary Clinton, but they don’t know the parts of her story that drive her to be the tenacious fighter she is today. That will include a heavy emphasis on the role of her mother’s struggles in shaping Hillary Clinton into the tenacious fighter she is today and the choices she’s made throughout her career to fight for children and families at all costs.
· Some of the examples of activities on these trips will include:
o On Saturday evening, immediately following her launch event in New York, Hillary Clinton will speak at an organizing house party in Sioux City, Iowa, at 7:30 PM CST. The event will be simulcast to similar events in congressional districts all over the country. On Sunday evening, she will speak at a similar organizing house party in Burlington, Iowa. Each event will be about building our nationwide network of supporters and volunteers.
o At noon on Sunday, June 15th, Hillary Clinton will welcome the public to her Iowa launch party at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. On Monday, in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton will speak to a similar launch party in Concord, New Hampshire. Both events will be the first large crowd events in her travel, and both are designed to bring in the new faces to the campaign that will be critical to securing pledges to “commit to vote” and “commit to caucus.”
o On Monday morning in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton will hold a forum on early childhoodeducation to highlight her lifetime commitment to children that dates back to her days at the Children’s Defense Fund after law school.
· The campaign has said we expect a competitive primary, and we’ve taken nothing for granted since the start of the campaign. This trip is the latest example that our focus is on the early four primary states and winning the nomination.
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