Washington Press Corps Primes Pump for Hillary's Presidential Declaration

• The Washington media is starting to promote the idea of Hillary Clinton for president in the year 2000. If that sounds farfetched, read why.

On Nov. 8, Mary McGrory, one of the media's most ballyhooed liberal columnists in the nation's capital, launched what cold only be described as a trial balloon for a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

Writing in the Washington Post, McGrory described Hillary's attributes and concluded: "Will she walk away in the millennium or keep up the career, the political partnership, on her own? She hasn't been able to be Eleanor Roosevelt, as she once hoped, but she sure can be bill Clinton." In other words -- be president rather than first lady.

Then on Nov. 10, close on the heels of McGrory's speculation, influential Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen -- another liberal -- chimed in with a similar commentary. Though satirical, Cohen's column touted the first lady's political acumen and accomplishment. He concluded with the suggestion that Hillary may indeed be on her way toward a bid for the presidency when her husband's term comes to a close in 2000.

If any of this sounds familiar to SPOTLIGHT readers, it may be because that more than a year ago -- ON June 30, 1997 -- The SPOTLIGHT noted that populist pundit Van Loman of Cincinnati had been predicting since mid-1995 that Hillary woudl be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the year 2000.

Although many Clinton haters were hoping at the time that the Whitewater investigation would result in the president and the first lady being shipped off to prison, the iconoclastic Loman pointed out that, instead, Mrs. Clinton had been invited to the exclusive Bilderberg meeting held that month (June 12- 15) at Lake Lanier, Georgia.

An invitation to the Bilderberg meeting was hardly the fate of someone destined for prison. After all, Hillary's husband had been invited to the 1991 Bilderberg meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany, where, insiders say, the then Arkansas governor was officially anointed as the plutocratic elite's choice for the White House in 1992.

Coming only one month after The SPOTLIGHT noted the possibility of a presidential bid by Hillary, the weekly "Intelligence Report" -- in the July 20, 1997 issue of the popular Sunday supplement, Parade -- asked the question "Can Clintons keep the White House in the Family," and pondered a presidential bid by Hillary in 2000. Parade reported that: "Washington insiders tell us her name keeps coming up, though nobody will admit it publicly at the moment."

On Aug. 11, 1997, The SPOTLIGHT commented on the item in Parade and noted that "although posing as 'light fare,' Parade actually has a long history of floating trial balloons and leaking information for the intelligence community and the plutocratic elite. So Hillary's candidacy may indeed be in the offing."

AIMING FOR WHITE HOUSE

More recently, in its Oct. 19 issue, The SPOTLIGHT featured a commentary by Loman in which he reiterated his prediction of ling ago, suggesting that, despite everything, Hillary -- in his view -- is very much aiming for the White House in the year 2000. That commentary predicted the very kind of hype that columnists McGrory and Cohen are using to boost a Hillary candidacy.

When learning of the recent major media boosts for such a candidacy, Loman told The SPOTLIGHT, "When leading Washington opinion makers start talking like this, you know something's in the works." Stay tuned.