Hillary Clinton Begins Traveling With Press Corps on 'Hill Force One' Plane
Clinton has not been traveling with the press on her flights until now.
— -- Welcome to Hill Force One.
Hillary Clinton, who has abstained from the common campaign practice of flying on the same aircraft as her traveling press corps, has landed a new ride, a large jet dubbed Hill Force One, and welcomed reporters on board.
Beginning today -- with just 64 days left until the election -- the Democratic presidential nominee, who has drawn fire for not holding press conferences is replacing her small, private jet with a significantly larger aircraft that she will not only share with her campaign staff, but with Secret Service staffers as well as reporters too.
The new plane was unveiled today with a trip to Ohio and the Quad Cities, a region of four counties in northwest Illinois and Southeastern Iowa.
“I am so happy to have all of you with me,” Clinton said Monday morning in greeting the press on its inaugural flight, adding, “I've been just waiting for this moment.” Clinton also added that she would be back later to take more formal questions from reporters.
The plane is a 14-year-old Boeing 737, made in America and first issued in 2002 for AirBerlin, with Clinton’s logo “Stronger Together” on the side. It's equipped with Wi-Fi and broken up into four cabins: one for Clinton and some aides, one for extra staffers, one for her Secret Service detail and one (with roughly 42 seats) for press.
Until now, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence has been the only one of the four presidential and vice presidential nominees to have this set-up.
Clinton's plane today had company from Trump and Pence’s separate planes as it landed on the tarmac today in Cleveland.
Today is also another turning point for the Clinton campaign.
After a month of, what Trump would call, "hiding," Clinton and her surrogates are hitting the trail this Labor Day in full force.
Clinton herself has as many public events today as she's had in the past two weeks. She has an event with her running mate Tim Kaine in Cleveland, and then another in Quad Cities in Iowa. And it's not just Clinton on the road. Kaine, his wife Ann Holton, Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Bill Clinton are all out on the trail today, too.
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