Hillary Clinton spent summer in the Hamptons crafting her presidential message with donors and financiers

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[h=1]Hillary Clinton spent summer in the Hamptons crafting her presidential message with donors and financiers[/h]

• Clinton asked banking and business executives 'how to tackle income inequality without alienating businesses or castigating the wealthy'
• The multimillionaire has struggled to articulate her views on the subject since claiming she and her husband were 'dead broke' at one point
• Clinton said this weekend she's 'thinking about' running in 2016

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Hillary Clinton spent her summer vacation in the Hamptons picking her wealthy friends' brains about jobs and the economy, a weekend profile on the presumed 2016 presidential candidate disclosed.
When Clinton wasn't promoting her book Hard Choices or enjoying some R&R at the beach last month, she was making the rounds in the elite, Long Island, New York, community, consulting friends, donors, financiers and business executives about economic issues, the New York Times reports.
Among the topics of discussion, according to the Times, were President Barack Obama's quest to eliminate corporate inversions that allow companies to take advantage of lower tax rates by reincorporating abroad and 'how to tackle income inequality without alienating businesses or castigating the wealthy.'


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Hillary Clinton, pictured here at the 37th Harkin Steak Fry on Saturday in Indianola, Iowa, spent her summer vacation asking friends, donors, business executives and financiers about their views on jobs and the economy


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Clinton has tripped over questions about her own financial means on multiple occasions this summer since embarking on her Hard Choices book tour, which is considered by many as a dry run for her upcoming presidential campaign.
The former first lady infamously told ABC News in June that she and husband Bill were 'dead broke' when they left the White House.
While the statement was 'accurate,' as Clinton has since argued, it set off a media firestorm, nonetheless. The Clintons quickly became multimillionaires after moving out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and have an estimated net worth of as much as $100 million.
The Clinton's often charge $200,000 or more for public speaking engagements, and they've made a combined sum of more than $22 million off the sales of their memoirs.
Dubbed the first gaffe of the 2016 presidential campaign, the Clintons have been trying to find a more articulate way to address the issue of wealth inequality in America ever since Hillary's interview on ABC.
A source close to Clinton told the Times the former Secretary of State regularly seeks out the opinion of her friends on policy issues, and her behavior over her summer holiday does not necessarily mean she's running for president.
But the Times talked to a number of other Hampton vacationers who said that 'amid the small talk, Mrs. Clinton would offer telltale signs that she intends to run.'


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Hillary and husband Bill were the perfect political couple last weekend at retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's annual steak fry fundraiser

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Hillary Clinton admitted on Saturday that she's 'thinking about' running for president again in 2016 but told attendees of the steak fry 'that's not why I'm here.' Clinton was officially at the event to wish her former Senate colleague Harkin, right, a fond farewell


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In preparation for a potential candidacy, the Times claims Clinton is readying her body and mind for the rigors of a presidential campaign by practicing yoga.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill laughed off the Times' suggestion that Clinton's fitness regimen is related in any way to her presidential ambitions.
'You caught us,' Merrill told the the Times in an email. 'These are all definitive signs of a person...simply living their life.'
Clinton has sent no clearer signal about her future plans since the start of her book tour than her visit to Iowa last weekend for retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's annual steak fry fundraiser.
Long a political tradition in Iowa, the Harkin Steak Fry attracts aspiring presidential candidates looking to make in-roads in the all important primary state.
Despite having competed for president a joint total of three times in the past, the Clintons' intricate political operation have never been on firm footing in Iowa.
Bill Clinton passed over Iowa when he sought the Democratic nomination in 1992 as Harkin, Iowa's favorite son, was also a presidential contender that year. When it came time for Clinton to run for re-election, he focused his time on traditional battleground states.


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Hillary Clinton considered skipping over the state, too, during her own campaign in 2008 in favor of focusing her time and money on states she had a better chance of winning, but ended up having to go all-in after a campaign memo outlining her strategy leaked.
Though Clinton won the coveted endorsement of the Des Moines Register that year, she lost the state's caucus to eventual Democratic presidential nominee, and later president, Barack Obama.
Saturday's trip to Indianola, Iowa, was Hillary's first visit to the state since 2007.
At the event Clinton acknowledged that she was 'thinking about' reentering politics before telling the audience 'but for today, that’s not why I’m here.'
Instead, she spent her speech at the fundraiser, which doubled as a farewell for her former colleague Harkin, stumping for Democratic candidates in Iowa.
Harkin in turned praised Clinton at the event and attributed her previous bad luck in the state to the 'phenomenon' that was Barack Obama's 2008 campaign.
However, he conceded to ABC News' Jonathan Karl in an interview curated on The Weekly Standard that Clinton needs to hone her message if she opts to participate in the 2016 contest.
Asked by Karl if he thought Clinton was 'too hawkish on foreign policy' for progressives and 'too moderate on economic issues, Harkin said: 'I think this is something that will be developed and we'll find out when -- if when and if she decides to run, you know, what's her vision for America?'

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