The Priorities USA board has long been seen as the hub of pro-Clinton group coordinating and the rift gave Clinton opponents fresh ammunition to remind the public of campaign infighting from 2008 and worried supporters who feared the return of staffing turmoil that led to the last campaign’s implosion.
The public dispute between super PACs is an anomaly for five political groups that, until now, have presented a largely lockstep march behind Clinton, sliding into place since she left the State Department in 2013.
And while the web has not always been harmonious — some close to Priorities USA tried to sink Ready for Hillary early on in the group’s founding — it has worked effectively and helped ice some of the field that could challenge Clinton. But the now public rift put that into question causing some Democrats unaffected by the fighting to question why these seasoned operatives let things play out so publicly.
A key problem for the pro-Clinton groups — and by extension Clinton — is that each of these organizations were conceived to play a specific role that relied on each other to do it’s job. For example, American Bridge, a Brock run group, is compiling a wealth of opposition research on Republicans that are likely to run for president in 2016. That information was going to be used in the fundraising and ad buying efforts run by Priorities. But with still simmering tension, it is unclear how those roles will continue to be filled.
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Despite all of the friction, many Democratic operatives said day-to-day operations between the groups will continue as planned.
“Everything will still happen the way it is supposed to happen,” said one Democratic source with knowledge of the situation. “On a day-to-day level, those two groups work well together.”
“People aren’t going to let a working relationship not be good,” the source added hopefully, “when the stakes are so high.”
CNN’s Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.
