Clinton harvests Bay Area for funds

Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose presidential campaign has been unnerved in recent weeks by e-mail controversies and a robust challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders on the left, hits the Bay Area on Monday for a series of fundraisers aimed at underscoring her appeal to a range of Democratic voters.

On Monday and Tuesday, Clinton will star at a South Bay “conversation” hosted by the South Asian community in Saratoga, a Marin County family event geared toward women, an East Bay event and a Silicon Valley tech fundraiser. Tickets for the fundraisers are $2,700 per person, the maximum 2016 primary donation, which includes a photo with the candidate.

Clinton’s money run in California, which includes no public events or open media coverage, comes after jittery Democrats in the solidly blue state have watched with trepidation her slide in the polls. Even in California, a mother lode of campaign cash for Democrats, some party activists privately admit fundraising for Clinton has been a tougher sell as a result of recent headlines and spec-

ulation that Vice President Joe Biden could jump into the 2016 presidential race.

But she arrives as some key Democrats say strategic changes in tone and message by her campaign in recent weeks have calmed many in the donor community and grassroots, putting her presidential drive back on track.

“She has righted the ship,” said Katie Merrill, a veteran California Democratic strategist.

“Clearly, she and the campaign decided they needed to have her talk directly with voters, with as much press exposure as possible,” said Merrill, who notes Clinton’s recent appearances on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, “Face the Nation” and “Meet the Press.”

‘She’s doing her homework’

While still behind Sanders in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, Merrill said, it’s clear in the national polls that the slide has stopped and “she’s stabilizing.”

A national CNN poll released last week showed Clinton leading Sanders, 42 percent to 24 percent, with 22 percent backing Biden if he entered the race.

Michelle Kraus, the managing director at Technology and Politics, a Silicon Valley consulting practice, said many potential California Democratic donors have been reassured by Clinton’s moves to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline and to talk in detail about key policy initiatives — such as providing college tuition relief, switching to clean energy and controlling out-of-pocket health care costs.

“She’s doing her homework,” Kraus said. By contrast, she said, voters are watching the GOP, stunned by the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner. In “a chaotic time ... they haven’t figured out that this election is not reality TV.”

But Republicans wasted no time lambasting Clinton’s Bay Area stopover.

“Hillary Clinton continues to resort to paying lip service to donors as her poll numbers plummet and the FBI investigation into her e-mail scandal grows,” said Ninio Fetalvo, a Republican National Committee spokesman. “But even the Golden State ATM machine and its wealthy donors won’t save her flailing campaign.”

Dimmer view from GOP

Sean Walsh, a key adviser to GOP Govs. Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger who served in the White House during the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations, also suggested that neither Clinton nor her party can answer the real challenge to the Democratic presidential campaign.

“Look at their candidate field,” Walsh said. “It’s all white and old people, except for Martin O’Malley,” 52, the former Maryland governor. The GOP presidential field offers “a Latino, a guy who married a Latina, a woman, an African American and everything in between. ... We have diversity.”

But Democratic strategist Gabe Sanchez said the continuing anti-immigrant rhetoric from Donald Trump, mostly unchallenged by GOP candidates, also has helped crystallize voters’ views of Clinton and the choice offered by the opposition party.

“It all comes down to who is going to represent the brand, the party, Sanchez said. “And the Democrats are winning on that one. They’ve been the party reaching out to Latinos, and Republicans just talk about it.”

For women, too, Merrill said the lineup on the GOP side — on display now in two televised debates — has made Californians with doubts view Clinton’s effort as even stronger.

“The Republicans calling her out as frequently as they did reminded voters that every election is about a choice,” she said.

“When Hillary speaks directly to women, it reminds them why they have supported her,” she added, especially with the looming threat of a government shutdown over funding to Planned Parenthood, an organization that has served 1 in 4 American women.

Seeking more transparency

Still, Merrill acknowledged, the Clinton campaign in California can do more to expand her appeal.

“If I were advising them, I’d say take all the restrictions off, and let the press show her talking to voters ... that’s when people see her passion about issues, her humanity,” she said. “The more Hillary Clinton opens herself up to the press and to voters, the more people see her, the better it is.”