Former President Bill Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are reportedly heading to Napa Valley at different times this month, not to take wine-tasting tours, but to drink in campaign fundraising cash.
But in the world of appearances by national political figures involved in fast-paced campaigns, news can be quick-moving, murky and hard to pin down.
The Clinton visit is to come first. Local Democratic leaders said they’ve heard Clinton will be here on Friday to raise money for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But no one had a written invitation, with the news circulating by word-of-mouth.
Mary Jane Bowker, campaign events coordinator for Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said Thompson plans to attend. But she didn’t know the time or location.
“This just happened really quickly,” Bowker said on Wednesday morning.
Assemblyman Bill Dodd, D-Napa, plans to attend, said John Moreno of Dodd’s office.
If the reported Friday date is true, Clinton will have a busy day. He is scheduled to speak at the Presidential Election Forum that begins at 2 p.m. at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
Bowker and various local Democratic leaders said the Napa Valley visit involves Craig and Kathryn Hall of Hall Wines near St. Helena. Kathryn Hall was appointed ambassador to Austria by then-President Bill Clinton in 1997 and hosted a November 2015 fundraiser when Hillary Clinton came to the winery.
The Bill Clinton event will be smaller than the Hillary Clinton event last year, Bowker said. It will be closed to the press.
Emails from the Napa Valley Register to the Hillary Clinton campaign media office sent since Saturday requesting more information went unanswered as of Wednesday. The campaign’s event calendar makes no mention of Bill Clinton stopping in Napa Valley or anywhere else on Friday.
Napa Valley is apparently in the sights of both presidential campaigns.
The Washington Post reported on Aug. 4 that Trump will hold fundraising events from Aug. 29-31 in Napa, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. That report generated talk among local Republican leaders.
One question that arose – is Trump coming, or will he send his vice presidential nominee Mike Pence or a family member?
Gaylon Kastner is California Federation of Republican Women Northern Division 3rd vice president. She contacted someone in the Trump campaign and heard that Trump himself is coming, though she has yet to receive news of the time and location.
“I’ve had people calling me and asking me,” Kastner said. “There’s a lot of excitement.”
Dee Cuney, president of the Upper Napa Valley Republican Women Federated, said she had yet to be notified about Trump’s visit as of Wednesday morning.
“They always give us information at the last second,” Cuney said, adding that local Republicans in the late 1990s learned about a Jeb Bush visit one day before the event.
She believes Trump will come himself, as opposed to sending a representative.
“We have some amazing Republicans in the Napa Valley,” Cuney said. “They’ve always hosted our Republican nominees and candidates and they’ve done some amazing events for us.”
Emails from the Napa Valley Register sent since Saturday to Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks went unanswered as of Wednesday.
David McCuan, a political science professor for Sonoma State University, said the reported Clinton and Trump events are examples of candidates hitting “the California ATM” for fundraising. Plus, there’s the cachet of Napa Valley wine money.
The Clintons make regular fundraising stops in California, McCuan said. But, if Bill Clinton’s Napa Valley trip will apparently be done quietly, McCuan sees Trump as being in a different position.
Trump says he wants to put California into play as a possible state he can win. He doesn’t need cash, he needs coverage, McCuan said.
“In that sense, splash is important,” McCuan said. “Trump has got to parachute in, Atlantic City-style.”
Napa Valley is no stranger to national political figures. Bill Clinton appeared at the Napa Valley Opera House Cafe in January 2008 in support of Hillary Clinton’s bid that year for the Democratic presidential nomination. In addition, Bill Clinton appeared at the Uptown Theatre in Napa in 2010 at a get-out-the-vote rally hosted by Thompson.
President George W. Bush spent the night at Meadowood Resort near St. Helena in April 2006 and went mountain biking in Angwin. Vice President Dick Cheney stopped Upvalley in March 2005.
