Hillary’s Campaign Re-Launch

Hillary Clinton on June 13 announced the official launch of her campaign for the 2016 presidential election.

But wait … didn’t she do that two months ago?

Clinton explains that her earlier launch was just a “ramp-up” phase, and most of the mainstream media are dutifully reporting it that way, despite the hoopla surrounding the much-anticipated launch on April 12. Not everyone is buying it, though. (1,2)

So which chart are we going to use? And which chart were we using in the first place? Her campaign Web site came online just after 3 p.m. on April 12. However, her campaign manager, John Podesta, sent an e-mail to supporters at 2:33 saying her candidacy was official, and it was immediately reposted on Twitter by one of the recipients.(3) The media got the word days earlier in a press release, complete with a launch schedule with the announcement planned for noon. The Guardian, attributing the information to an unnamed source, didn’t wait and published the story on April 10.(4) Or what about the chart for when she filed the official paperwork declaring her candidacy or signed the lease on her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn? (5,6)

What is it with Hillary Clinton? Her birth time itself is mired in uncertainty, resulting in a Rodden rating of DD. Astrologers have pondered and debated her birth time for years in an attempt to cast accurate election charts and to get a handle on the woman herself. Ironically, the confusion serves to reinforce the most probable birth time of around 8 a.m., which places her Scorpio Sun in the nebulous twelfth house.(7)

Clinton admitted an identity problem in her first “official” campaign launch, quipping that she was “the most famous person you don’t really know.” Her initial launch didn’t do a lot to address that deficiency, nor did she make a very convincing case for why she wanted to be president. That left her open to harsh criticism, among the most devastating being that her nomination was more like a coronation, with a sense of entitlement. (8,9)

The re-launch has been described more as a “re-branding,” following a two-month trial during which campaign advisors had an opportunity to evaluate their strategies to portray the former first lady and secretary of state as more approachable and down-to-earth. In past elections, she came off as aloof and detached. (10, 11)

One gets the feeling that she’s trying too hard to be whatever voters want her to be . . .

Clinton’s campaign advisors also have been snapped to attention by the unexpected popularity of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive candidate whose populist message has been drawing large crowds. Considered a nonstarter, Sanders has surged in recent polls, surprising even himself. Clinton’s speech at Saturday’s rally, held on Roosevelt Island in New York, was spiked with references to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her mother’s difficult upbringing, and “income inequality.” (12)

Just a coincidence? Or is it a twelfth-house thing? On her Twitter account, Clinton describes herself as “wife, mom, grandma, women+kids advocate, FLOTUS, Senator, SecState, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, 2016 presidential candidate.” One gets the feeling that she’s trying too hard to be whatever voters want her to be, or at least what her advisors are telling her will make her more likeable. It’s like the old joke about putting a chameleon on plaid. And her Pisces Moon is the consummate chameleon.

From an astrological viewpoint, the re-launch chart is more favorable for getting a message out. Although both “official launch” charts have Virgo Rising, the June 13 chart has Mercury in Gemini conjunct the Midheaven, with a partile Sun-Mars conjunction in Gemini in the tenth house. Another coincidence? Or did her campaign wise up and hire an astrologer?

Image: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a speech in Washington, D.C., in November 2012. Photo courtesy U.S. Department of State.

[This article originally appeared on The Mountain Astrologer‘s blog.]

1. “Hillary Clinton’s ‘talking points’ for ‘friends and allies’ just leaked,” by Hunter Walker, Business Insider, June 12, 2015.

2. “The 2016 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet,” by David A. Graham, The Atlantic, June 12, 2015.

3. The Guardian’s live coverage of Clinton’s April 12 announcement provides times via updates and Twitter images.

4. “Hillary Clinton to launch 2016 campaign on Sunday en route to Iowa,” by Lauren Gambino, The Guardian, April 10, 2015.

5. A copy of Clinton’s filing with the Federal Election Commission can be found online, with a time stamp.

6. “Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn – It’s official: She’s signed the deal for a campaign HQ,” by Anne Karni and Gabriel Debenedetti, Politico, April 3, 2015.

7. Hillary Clinton, Astrodatabank.

8. “Hillary Clinton, Polarizing Or Misunderstood, Jumps Into Race For President,” by Tamara Keith, NPR, April 12, 2015.

9. “Good-Bill hunting — Hillary supporters attack de Blasio,” by Michael Goodwin, The New York Post, April 15, 2015.

10. “How Hillary Clinton launched her campaign’s latest phase,” by Anne Gearan, The Washington Post, June 13, 2015.

11. “Hillary Clinton’s journey to Iowa: 1,000-mile road trip in a ‘Scooby-Doo’ van,” by Paul Lewis, The Guardian, April 13, 2015.

12. “Hillary Clinton to #FeelTheBern — that’s Bernie Sanders — in Iowa,” by Jose DelReal, The Washington Post, June 12, 2015.