Pictured are former Ohio senator Nina Turner (in blue-green suit), who is the chair of political engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Democratic political operative Charles E. Bibb Sr.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -In spite of record breaking freezing temperatures in Cleveland, Ohio, and elsewhere across the nation this week, supporters of former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton for president held a fundraiser on the city's west side in the Ohio City neighborhood at Market Garden Brewery Monday evening February 16.

The crowd there was standing-room-only in support of the former first lady, who was not in attendance.

Former state senator Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat who lost a bid last year for secretary of state and is now the chair of political engagement for the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP), was the keynote speaker.

"My grandmother said you need three things to make it in life, the wish bone, the backbone, and the jaw bone," said Turner, who is also a former Cleveland councilwoman.

Turner was also active in Ohio during President Obama's reelection campaign in 2012, and was an Obama delegate when he was first elected in 2008. She said Monday that Ohio and the country need Clinton's leadership at the helm in 2017.

The 'Ready for Hillary Committee,' a political action committee on the national scale that was behind the event and hopes to recruit Clinton to make a second bid for president, has  said it would report raising more than $740,000 in its most recent filing period. In the last two years, Ready for Hillary raised $12.9 million from more than 200,000 contributions, superPAC spokesman Seth Bringman recently told supporters.

The Cleveland event embraced the theme 'Cleveland for Hillary Clinton,' and adds fodder to widespread speculation that Clinton will in fact enter the race for president, a posture ODP Chairman David Pepper said last week to Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news, "is likely."

The host committee includes the following: Charles E. Bibb Sr.,  state Reps. Janine Boyd (D-9), a Cleveland Heights Democrat,  and Kent Smith( D-8), a Euclid Democrat, and Janet Carson, Cindy Demsey, Cory Shawver, Lupe Williams,  Marquez Brown, Jane Buder Shapiro, Colleen Byers, Ryan Callender, Angela Shuckahosee, Michael Bowen, former Parma Mayor Dean DePiero, Lake County Commissioner Kevin Malecek, Eric Meinhardt, Dan O'Malley, Steve Rowen, Daneene Monroe Rusnak, Cheryl Schwind, Tom Tagliamonte, Namita Waghray, Oakwood Village Council President Johnnie Warren, and Lynnie Powell, the regional political director for the ODP.

'It's great to be a part of a viable and influential grassroots group that  will support Ms. Clinton when she runs for president,"  Bibb, a former East Cleveland city councilman, told Cleveland Urban News.Com.

"Ohio is the key swing state, and Cleveland and Cuyahoga County will deliver the Democratic vote in 2016," said Bibb.

Cuyahoga County is roughly 29 percent Black, is the largest of 88 counties statewide, and is a Democratic stronghold that can sometimes make or break a presidential election.

In addition to Councilman Warren, other dignitaries there were Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pauline Tarver, Cleveland Ward 5 Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, Euclid Councilpersons Stephana Caviness and Kandace Jones, and newly elected Regional Transit Authority union president Ronald W. Jackson Sr., also a member of the host committee, and who ousted former union president William Nix last year to lead the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268.

Tickets for the fundraiser were $20.16, a figure that symbolically represents the year 2016, which is the year of the upcoming presidential election.

Clinton won the Ohio Democratic primary in 2008 but lost the Democratic nomination to Obama. She has reportedly approved a budget and moved ahead with campaign hires, and will officially announce her run for president sometime this spring, sources say.

If Clinton were to run, and subsequently win, she would become America's first female president. Polls reveal that she is the front runner over perspective Republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, New York Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Ohio is a pivotal state for presidential elections, and perception wise may be the most notable state for Democratic and Republican presidential wannabe's to court votes. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)