Will Hillary Clinton Candidacy Mean Clinton-less Hamptons Summer in 2015?
As we’re sure you’ve heard by now, Hamptons fan and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is officially running for president again. Will these mean the Hamptons will see less, or none, of the Clintons this summer?
The Hamptons is known as a retreat for the elite, and many presidential candidates try to steer clear of the perception that they are elitists. Clinton, in particular, struggles with this. A Clinton trip to the Hamptons, whether for a vacation or for a fundraiser, could be seized upon by her political adversaries.
Vice President Joe Biden has visited Southampton Village several times as a vacationer and at least once for a fundraiser. Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush attended the Walker Cup golf tournament in Southampton in 2013.
During the 2012 presidential race Mitt Romney attended a fundraiser at David Koch‘s oceanfront Southampton estate. Demonstrators descended on Meadow Lane to protest with a banner that read “Mitt Romney Has a Koch Problem.”
Were Clinton to attend a Hamptons fundraiser with a Democratic booster, a similiar scene could play out.
The former First Lady held two book signings for her memoir Hard Choices in the Hamptons in August 2014, when she and husband Bill Clinton were renting a house in Amagansett. They had vacationed in the Hamptons previously, including renting in Sagaponack in 2013.
Bill has shown up at the Artists and Writers Game in East Hampton and both Clintons have been spotted dining out.
Clinton sightings may be out of the realm of possibility in summers 2015 and 2016, when the Clintons try to maintain that they are in it for the “every man”
Watch Clinton’s campaign announcement video, Getting Started: