Want further evidence Hillary Clinton is gearing up for 2016?
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she was planning to attend Haim Saban's elaborate birthday party on the Hawaiian island of Lanai this weekend, until it was called off because of an approaching hurricane. Saban, whose wealth is estimated to exceed $3 billion, has said he would donate “as much as needed” to get Clinton elected, if she runs.
Saban, producer of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers television franchise, was planning to hold his 70th birthday party at the Four Seasons resort on Lanai. According to the Star-Advertiser, he had rented rooms for 300 to 400 guests at both the resort near the beach and the lodge near the mountains. The Beach Boys were scheduled to perform, and Secret Service agents had been seen on the island, presumably in advance of Clinton's arrival.
The Four Seasons wouldn’t confirm that a birthday party or a political fundraiser was planned, but a spokesperson told HuffPost the restaurants and facilities at the Manele Bay Resort and the Lodge at Kokele both will be closed throughout the storm because of safety concerns.
Saban, an Israeli immigrant born in Egypt to a seamstress and office supply salesman, hit it big in the 1990s with the Power Rangers franchise. He later bought and then sold Fox Family Channel (now called ABC Family) to Disney. Now, Saban is the chairman and CEO of Saban Capital Group Inc., chairs the Spanish language network Univision and spends some of his energy as a philanthropist for, among other things, Israeli causes.
Clinton hasn't announced plans for the 2016 election, but she has recently made stops in several key states, including Iowa, where she said "it is true" she's thinking about a presidential run. Fittingly, the hurricane that canceled this weekend's festivities in Hawaii is called "Ana," a Hawaiian word meaning "to evaluate."
Clinton, it is rumored, may reveal her 2016 plans after the midterm elections next month.
As to what a Beach Boys a capella cover of the Power Rangers theme song sounds like, the world may never know.
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