“Hillary Clinton has been consulting with an array of economists and academics—including liberal Joseph Stiglitz, former Fed chairman Paul Volcker and new faces outside the traditional orbit of Democratic policy experts—as she prepares for a likely presidential campaign that would make sluggish wage growth and middle-class prosperity a central focus,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“One of Mrs. Clinton’s broader goals is to develop ways to address economic anxiety without sounding like a combative populist or demonizing high-income groups, said a person familiar with her thinking.”

The challenge ahead for Hillary Clinton “is one faced by few White House hopefuls: running a primary campaign in which she faces little competition, if any at all,” the AP reports.

“Clinton has been meeting in New York with a group of advisers that includes longtime loyalists and veterans of Obama’s races. But the work of campaign planning involves trying to figure out when to get into the race, how to avoid giving off a sense of inevitability and how to generate enthusiasm among the party’s base for the general election without the benefit of a spirited fight for the nomination.”

“Hillary Clinton took more than 200 privately chartered flights at taxpayer expense during her eight years in the U.S. Senate, sometimes using the jets of corporations and major campaign donors as she racked up $225,756 in flight costs,” Bloomberg reports.

“The records were provided to Bloomberg News by a Republican operative… While the flights fell within congressional rules and were not out of the ordinary for senators at the time, they could play into the emerging Republican line of attack that Clinton’s wealth and years in government office have left her out of touch with the voters she’ll court on the campaign trail.”

“Hillary Clinton, expecting no major challenge for the Democratic nomination, is strongly considering delaying the formal launch of her presidential campaign until July, three months later than originally planned,” Politico reports.

“The delay from the original April target will give her more time to develop her message, policy and organization, without the chaos and spotlight of a public campaign.”

Politico: “Teddy Goff, who ran the day-to-day digital shop for Obama, and Andrew Bleeker, an online advertising guru from the president’s reelection effort in Chicago, are the most frequently named candidates for the role of Clinton’s chief digital strategist, a job that most likely means a prime seat in the inner campaign cabinet, according to interviews with multiple sources tracking the early stages of the presumptive front-runner’s operation.”

“The bumper crop of 2016 GOP hopefuls, bustling and seemingly growing by the day, reflects several realities: No prohibitive front-runner in the party; an eagerness to reclaim the White House after eight years of Democratic control (and a last chance to block the prospect of 16); the availability of hundreds of millions of dollars from big donors; and the presence of a group of fresh faces thrust into prominence by Republican successes in the last three congressional elections,” Politico reports.

“But the burgeoning GOP field also reflects this conviction, growing among both potential candidates and professional operatives: Hillary Clinton is far from invincible. Or, to put it another way, pollsters and consultants in both parties say, she is eminently beatable despite her current double-digit advantage over prospective Republican foes in public polls.”

Hillary Clinton “is in the final stages of planning a presidential campaign that is likely to launch in early April, and has made decisions on most top posts,” Politico reports.

“Campaign advisers say the likelihood of a campaign, long at 98 percent (she never really hesitated, according to one person close to her), went to 100 percent right after Christmas, when Clinton approved a preliminary budget and several key hires. Most of the top slots have been decided, with one notable exception: communications director, a job that is now the subject of intense lobbying and jockeying by some of the biggest names in Democratic politics.”

“The exact timing of Hillary Clinton’s launch is unknown, but close allies expect her to officially enter the 2016 race shortly after the end of this quarter, so that her first fundraising report will be a blockbuster.”

“New tensions are emerging in the relationship between allies of President Obama and Hillary Clinton,” The Hill reports.

“At issue is the fate of the political equivalent of gold dust — the enormous email list, comprised of many millions of supporters and donors, that the Obama team has compiled over the course of his two presidential campaigns. The Clinton camp would dearly love to get its hands on the list, but there is no promise as yet that the president’s aides will comply.”

New York Times: “Few modern political figures inspire the animus that Hillary Rodham Clinton generates, and the cottage industry that opposes her never really goes out of business. But as Mrs. Clinton prepares for a likely presidential campaign in 2016, the sprawling network is evolving to attack her on new grounds.”

“Major donors are ready to announce huge financial commitments to Hillary Clinton as soon as she announces a second run for the White House, according to Clinton allies and Democratic fundraisers,” The Hill reports.

“The Clinton team wants to build excitement about her campaign launch, which is expected in March or April. The money blitz would be a show of Clinton’s strength meant to scare away potential primary rivals.”

Said one top Democratic donor: “It’s going to be like nothing you’ve seen. The numbers will be astounding.”

Hillary Clinton’s “potential place in history and her husband’s tenure in the White House boost her presidential prospects, while Jeb Bush’s political legacy and Mitt Romney’s 2012 run for the office are negatives,” a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds.

“Clinton leads both in hypothetical head-to-head matchups at this early stage – as well as Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee alike. The national survey finds 53 to 56 percent support for Clinton among registered voters against each of these potential Republican candidates, while they get 39 to 41 percent. One reason is that Clinton is stronger in her political base, given the far more fragmented nature of the current GOP field.”

Hillary Clinton “is assembling a heavily research-driven campaign designed to prevent a repeat of her poor performance in 2008,” the Washington Post reports.

“Clinton still faces many of the same challenges she had seven years ago, when she went from being a juggernaut and most likely the first female president in American history to a perceived stumblebum out of touch with the political moment… But backers say this time Clinton is developing a smarter, more relevant campaign message… The former secretary of state is also trying to play down any sense of inevitability and aims to adopt many of the same data-focused strategies that Barack Obama used to snatch the race from her in 2008.”

First Read: “First, by grabbing Obama’s chief pollster (Joel Benenson) and media consultant (Jim Margolis), Clinton has decided to enlist key parts of Obama’s campaign 2008-2012 team, discarding the folks who ran her polling and media in ’08…. When you add the fact that John Podesta is leaving the Obama White House to serve as a liaison between the Clinton campaign and White House (as well as to handle the Clinton Old Guard), it’s pretty easy to conclude that Clinton won’t be running away from Obama. In fact, it’s looking like she will be more connected to him than ever.”

“Two, we’ve learned that Clinton most likely won’t receive any real Democratic primary challenge, allowing her to focus on a general-election campaign much earlier than everyone else.”

“And three, the growing realization that 2016 is going to be the year of the political re-run or spinoff — you’ve got Romney, a Bush, a Paul, Huckabee, Santorum, and of course Clinton — is a potential problem for her… when it’s a growing cast of the same stale characters (or their relatives), it’s automatic to lump Clinton into that group. So she has to find a way to distance herself from that. Running as a historic candidate — trying to be the first female president — is a way to do that. But this could very well be her biggest challenge in 2016.”