'Ready for Hillary' Super PAC has raised $1 million

WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- "Ready for Hillary," a Super PAC backed by Democratic heavyweights, has raised $1 million more than three years before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has not said she will be running for president, Politico reported. But she is also clearly keeping her options open.

Former U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauschner, D-Calif., who has also served in the State Department, is an adviser to the PAC. She said the PAC's donors are sending a message that Clinton is the one to beat in 2016.

"Being a voter is not a passive sport," Tauscher said. "What people are saying here is that they are not going sit around and wait for others to shape the race for them."

A number of high-profile Democrats have made contributions to the PAC. They include Andrew Tobias, writer and former Democratic National Committee treasurer, and Carol Pensky, who serves on President Obama's Commission on Presidential Scholars and founded the DNC's Women's Leadership Forum.

Clinton is the leader in polls of the Democratic field. Other potential candidates include Vice President Joseph Biden and two governors, Andrew Cuomo of New York and Martin O'Malley of Maryland.

But advisers to all three told Politico they will not run if Clinton does.

"He doesn't have a death wish," one operative said of his candidate.