Coy Candidates May Be Called Up by the Draft

John Hlinko, a consultant who co-founded Draft Clark, said that if not one person of the millions with Web access has taken the easy step of putting up a campaign-draft Web site, candidates "should really consider whether they can gather support in the long run."

This election cycle's drafters, who are active a full year earlier in the election cycle than Hlinko was, come from a wide slice of American life -- bakers, drummers, lawyers, consultants, motorbike racers, students, activists, expatriates.

Not surprisingly, one of the politicians attracting the most draft interest is also the one who is best-known, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Peter Feddo, a young Democratic activist in Virginia, runs VoteHillary.org, a Web site he put up to tout a 2008 Clinton run. "She is the only one who can lead the Democratic Party in the right direction," he said.

He has registered the group as a political committee, raised a few thousand dollars and collected thousands of names.

Now, he said, "We want to go from the net roots to the grass roots."

On a Tuesday evening earlier this month, about 30 Clinton supporters gathered at an Alexandria pizza shop to discuss how to publicize a Clinton candidacy. The event was organized through the popular activist tool, Meetup.com.

Kathy Quellen of Alexandria, who sells medical products, helped bring supporters to the meetup. She said she was devastated by the election of 2004 and has now found her political voice through the advocacy of Clinton.

"When George Bush won the election in '04, I was so motivated to do something," she said.

She concluded that Clinton is the best hope, saying: "She's the most qualified of any of the other candidates who are out there."

And what if nothing comes of the draft movement?

"I think it still would be helpful to get people involved in this process," Quellen said. "It's been life-changing for me."

A separate group, Hillary Now, has a more eclectic cast.

At the top is perennial activist Bob Kunst, who last Labor Day went to Brooklyn as part of a band called "Utica Ave Boyz" to perform in a parade that Clinton attended. In beads and feathers, gold shoes and shorts, he carried a sign promoting the Hillary Now site and says he caught sight of the senator.

Some of the other steps he's taking to promote a Clinton candidacy are equally unconventional.

One is partly sponsoring the competitions of an up-and-coming amateur motorbike racer in exchange for outfitting his bike with Clinton decals.

Another is raising money by selling big chocolate chip cookies through the Web site.

Anna Lia Notardonato-Hicks of Goodlettsville, Tenn., bakes the cookies. They are not her usual biscotti, and she acknowledges she does not "know where all this is going," but it is her way to do something.

"I'm a baker," she said. "I bake."