In what some believe may be the Clinton’s courting of a prominent Hispanic to become Hillary’s running mate in her anticipated 2016 bid for the presidency, “former president Bill Clinton invited Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and incoming Obama Cabinet secretary, to the Clintons’ home in Washington last week for a private dinner that friends described as a chance for Democratic leaders from different generations to become better acquainted.”
Age 39, Castro would also add some youth to a potential ticket. On Monday, he’s set to be sworn in as Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development. He also traveled to New York in July to join Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at a Bronx Children’s Museum’s youth event.
The move by the Clinton’s has not gone unnoticed by political insiders.
… in March, Hillary Clinton sat next to Henry Cisneros, who served in her husband’s Cabinet, at a private luncheon in New Mexico, where Cisneros said they discussed Castro and his political future.
“It’s a natural friendship waiting to bloom,” said Cisneros, also a former San Antonio mayor and a longtime family friend and political mentor of Castro and his identical twin brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.).
Said another person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to alienate either camp, “The Clintons are keeping the Castros very close to them.”
Castro delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and is considered to have something of a national following as a result.