Ready for Hillary PAC makes pitch to donors in New York

NEW YORK, June 27 (UPI) -- Turnout was higher than expected for a New York event bringing Democratic donors together with Hillary Clinton allies, a source tells CNN.

While the next U.S. presidential election is more than three years away and Clinton has not said if she is running, the fundraising already is under way.

The Ready for Hillary political action committee held a breakfast meeting Thursday in New York, CNN reported. That followed a lunch meeting Wednesday.

"The event is part of a big push to expand Ready for Hillary's finance committee and boost fundraising numbers before the June 30 filing deadline," a source told CNN before the breakfast.

The host for the breakfast was Michael Kempner, a public relations executive who played a major role in fundraising for President Obama last year.

About 60 people attended the lunch, twice what organizers had expected, a source told CNN. Harold Ickes, a longtime Clinton friend and adviser to Ready for Hillary, spoke to the group.

Clinton, who stepped down as secretary of state at the beginning of the year, has high poll numbers. That could be because of name recognition -- and Democrats may remember that in early 1989 few people outside of Arkansas had heard of Gov. Bill Clinton, who would be elected president in 1992.

On the other side, the Republican Super PAC America Rising is organizing a "Stop Hillary" movement, the New York Daily News reported. The group plans a fundraiser in July in Manhattan.