Author Topic: The Clintons break bread and build ties with Julián Castro, stoking talk of a 2016 ticket  (Read 627 times)

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Offline mystery-ak

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-clintons-break-bread-and-build-ties-with-julian-castro-stoking-talk-of-a-2016-ticket/2014/08/14/ad57c662-23c3-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html?hpid=z4

 By Ed O'Keefe and Philip Rucker August 14 at 3:23 PM Follow @edatpost Follow @PhilipRucker

As she expands her political network in advance of an expected presidential run, Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband have been cultivating an important ally who some believe could become her vice presidential running mate.

Former president Bill Clinton invited Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and newly minted Obama Cabinet secretary, to the Clintons’ home in Washington last week for a private dinner that friends described as a chance for Democratic leaders from different generations to become better acquainted.

Castro, 39, who is scheduled to be ceremonially sworn in Monday as secretary of housing and urban development, traveled to New York in July to join Hillary Clinton, as well as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, at a children’s song and dance performance for the Bronx Children’s Museum’s youth arts program.

And in March, Hillary Clinton sat next to Henry Cisneros, who served in her husband’s Cabinet, at a private luncheon in New Mexico, where Cisneros said they discussed Castro and his political future.

“It’s a natural friendship waiting to bloom,” said Cisneros, also a former San Antonio mayor and a longtime family friend and political mentor of Castro and his identical twin brother, Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Tex.).

Said another person familiar with the discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to alienate either camp: “The Clintons are keeping the Castros very close to them.”

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering illustrates how the Clintons are trying to acclimate themselves into a Democratic Party that has evolved and nurtured new stars in the years since they ceded the stage to Barack Obama in 2008.

For the Clintons, there are clear advantages in building an alliance with Castro. A young and dynamic figure who broke onto the national scene with his keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Castro is arguably the only Hispanic Democrat with a national following. While his background as a Mexican American could have broad appeal to Hispanic voters, Castro does not speak fluent Spanish.

Assuming Clinton runs for president, keeping Castro and his brother on her side is key because any sign of wavering in their support of her candidacy during the Democratic primaries could complicate her attempts to court the increasingly influential Hispanic electorate.

Should Clinton win the Democratic nomination, Castro could find himself on Clinton’s vice presidential short list. Clinton may face pressure to select a Hispanic running mate, especially considering the Republican Party could field two Latino presidential candidates, Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.). Other Latino Republicans, including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, have been mentioned as potential vice presidential candidates.

“If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, there will be many considerations, but certainly one of them will be the next generation and another one will be the significance of the Latino community,” Cisneros said. “Clearly if you were putting together a list of five people in the country who could potentially be a contributing running mate, you would have to put Julián Castro on that list.”

There are benefits for Castro, too, in establishing closer ties to the Clintons. During his third term as mayor, Castro resigned to join Obama’s Cabinet, a move that close associates said could demonstrate national political experience he would need to be seriously considered for vice president. Even if Clinton bypasses him as a running mate, Castro could land a different high-profile post in her administration or could run for statewide office in Texas with support from the Clinton network.

Castro met Bill Clinton at the family’s home on Whitehaven Street NW, just around the corner from the Naval Observatory, the vice president’s official residence, for dinner the night of Aug. 5, when Clinton was in town for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. They were joined by Sandy Berger, a former Clinton national security adviser, and other Clinton associates, according to Democrats familiar with the dinner.

Although politics is always in the atmosphere at a dinner between politicians, aides to Clinton and Castro insisted their discussion centered around joint initiatives between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Clinton Climate Initiative, one of several philanthropic programs affiliated with the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

“Secretary Castro and former president Clinton had a discussion about ways the agency can expand on the partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative to make public housing more energy efficient,” HUD spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara said.

A Clinton aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, made a similar statement and then got to the point: “They didn’t talk about 2016.”

Berger did not respond to a request for comment.

A Clinton-Castro pairing has long been the subject of speculation in political circles. When asked in May about the prospect of running on a ticket with Castro or Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Clinton told ABC’s Robin Roberts, “They’re both extraordinary leaders and great political advocates for a lot of what needs to be done in our country, and I admire both of them greatly.”

The Clinton-Castro relationship dates back at least to 2012, when the former president and the Castro brothers appeared together at a political fundraiser in Los Angeles, shortly after Julián Castro’s DNC keynote. In his remarks at the event, Clinton suggested that Julián would one day be president and that the Castro brothers were building a legacy of public service similar to the Kennedys, according to a close associate of both camps who was in attendance.

Since then, the Clintons and Castros have found occasional opportunities to develop a relationship. In February, when Bill Clinton visited San Antonio for a speech to the World Affairs Council, he went to lunch at Mi Tierra, the city’s iconic Tex-Mex restaurant, with Julián Castro, who at the time was still the mayor, as well as Cisneros and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

The Castro brothers were born in 1974, which happens to be the year Bill Clinton, as a 28-year-old, fresh out of law school, ran his first campaign, for Congress from Arkansas, as a sort of boy wonder. Twenty years later, Julián Castro was an intern in the Clinton White House, working in the Office of Cabinet Affairs, and has said he had his picture taken with then-President Clinton.

“It may well be there’s a special affinity there for these early overachievers,” said Paul Begala, a longtime Clinton adviser. “President Clinton’s got an eye for talent.”

Clinton also has a deep affection for and many political friends in Texas after he and Hillary crisscrossed the state in 1972 working for George McGovern’s presidential campaign.

In the decades since, Begala said, Clinton has gone to San Antonio anytime he had an excuse. The former president had a taste for mango ice cream from the Menger Hotel, a legendary property near the Alamo where Teddy Roosevelt recruited the Rough Riders.

“Somebody should tell Julián to ship a little mango ice cream up to him,” Begala said. Acknowledging the former president’s strict diet of late, Begala added, “I don’t know if it’s vegan.”
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Offline alicewonders

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I remember saying a few months ago that Julian Castro is the one to watch. 
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Offline Atomic Cow

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I remember saying a few months ago that Julian Castro is the one to watch.

Castro makes Obama look like Ronald Reagan.
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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I remember saying a few months ago that Julian Castro is the one to watch.
I sense that this is a blatant effort to head Castro off at the pass. Hillary! has been down this road before and is not going to let the young upstart minority beat her again.
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