Dukakis: Hillary will be ’16 nominee

Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, says Hillary Clinton is going to be the party’s 2016 standard-bearer — and he’s okay with that.

“Look, I consider myself part of that liberal base. I’m very comfortable with her as a candidate, as a nominee and as the president of the United States,” Dukakis said Monday on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto.” “Hillary is going to be the nominee and I’d like to see as many of us as possible get behind that effort now.”

Many progressives have raised concerns about Clinton’s ties to Wall Street, a relationship they see as too cozy.

But Dukakis pushed back against that idea, suggesting that Clinton’s views are more skeptical of Wall Street than progressive critics would suggest. That being so, he asserted that she will likely not have to change those opinions to rebuff a primary challenge from the left.

“I don’t think she will be forced to vary her view dramatically. … She’s a very progressive Democrat and one who’s not soft on the kinds of financial fooling around that virtually sucked the country dry,” Dukakis, a former governor of Massachusetts, told Fox Business Network. 

Liberal groups such as Democracy For America and MoveOn.org are trying to move Clinton to the left and in some cases draft candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has insisted she’s not running.

“I don’t think these folks have anything to worry about and frankly — I’d feel a lot better if they were out organizing 200,000 precincts in this country and getting ready for what is going to be a very tough contest in 2016,” Dukakis told Fox Business Network.