Hillary Clinton has already decided to run for president in 2016, and the only question she faces is how hard she'll have to run against herself,
"Blood Feud" author Ed Klein told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
Klein, whose bestselling book describes a deep political enmity between the current and previous Democratic first families, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that Clinton's health isn't the only potential damper on her candidacy: She might not want the job so much anymore.
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It's not just that Clinton has looked "rusty — not at the top of her game," piling up gaffes on
her book tour, said Klein.
"The Hillary of 2014 seems to be lacking that fire in the belly," he said. "I wonder if she's having serious second thoughts about running for president."
Klein on Friday also repeated a central claim of his book — that Clinton has not leveled with the public about a heart valve problem revealed to her by her physician.
Clinton had one health scare in 2012 while serving as secretary of State. Her doctors blamed severe dehydration from an intestinal infection for the fainting spell that landed her in the hospital, where
a blood clot was found in her head and treated with blood thinners.
Clinton ran hard for the Democratic nomination in 2008 and was by all accounts an energetic secretary of State to the eventual winner, President Barack Obama. But the question of how Clinton endures another grueling national campaign that would, for her,
begin at age 69 has persisted even among neutral observers.
But make no mistake, said Klein: "She is definitely running."
"She's told her friends she's running," he said. "Her husband, [former President] Bill Clinton, has told everybody who listens that she is running. They've gone to various state [Democratic party] chairmen all across the United States to line up organizational support.
"They are raising money. There is no question that she is running."
Klein said Clinton doesn't see Vice President Joe Biden as a serious challenger, and doesn't fear the Obamas maneuvering to get Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to jump into the 2016 race.
"The only thing that could stop her, I believe, from running would be if her health didn't hold out," said Klein. "That's a big 'if' because we don't know how healthy Hillary is. Her doctor tells her she has a heart valve problem, which she hasn't revealed to the public. That may or may not be a serious impediment, but short of her health, Hillary Clinton is in this to win."
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