Hillary Clinton Returns to Silicon Valley in Fund-Raising Swing

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has returned to the San Francisco Bay Area for another fund-raising swing, appearing at a series of private events today and tomorrow.

The former U.S. Secretary of State is looking to shore up support among Silicon Valley Democrats at a time when polls show she has lost ground to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is attracting sizable crowds at campaign stops, and might face a primary challenge from current Vice President Joe Biden.

The most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal national poll shows Clinton leads Sanders by 15 points — a lead that dwindles to seven points if Biden enters the race. That’s a significant fall from the 60-point lead she held over Sanders in June.

Clinton, who just wrapped up a Hollywood fundraiser at the home of Lionsgate Co-Chairman Rob Friedman, headed north Monday to visit the Saratoga home of Talat and Kamil Hasan at a $2,700-per-person fundraising event.

Kamil Hasan, a major Obama backer, is a general partner at Granite Hill Capital Partners, a firm that invests in India and in the technology sector. The event is jointly hosted by Amy Rao, who heads a data management firm in Palo Alto and has raised more than $100,000 for Clinton.

Clinton is scheduled to stop at the Belvedere residence of Tracey Turner, who is the founder of micro-finance provider MicroPlace, then head for a fundraiser hosted by Joni Binder and Robert Shwarts, a couple who hosted a similar event for Clinton in support of her 2008 presidential bid.

Clinton wraps up her Bay Area trip with an innovators’ breakfast hosted by Michael and Xochi Birch, the San Francisco startup duo that sold their social networking site Bebo to AOL for $850 million and later founded members-only social club The Battery.

Once a bit player in the political money game, Silicon Valley has become an important stop on the road to the White House, with Clinton and other presidential hopefuls attending fundraisers in the region.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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