Clinton: US politics could use 'camps for adults'

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton says the nation's political class could use "camps for adults" to foster cooperation because too many leaders get backed into partisan corners and refuse to work together.

Clinton offered a bipartisan, feel-good message Thursday during a paid speech to camp counselors in the weeks before her expected presidential campaign launch. She was presented with a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with "Camp David" — the presidential retreat in Maryland — but otherwise steered clear of her prospective campaign, pointing to a "huge fun deficit" in the nation and the need for politicians of all stripes to reach across the aisle.

"We really need camps for adults," Clinton said at the American Camp Association, New York and NewJersey's Tri State CAMP Conference. "Maybe mix it up a little bit." Playing on the colors of U.S. politics, she imagined a red cabin and a blue cabin where people "have to come together and actually listen to each other. Wouldn't that be a novel idea?"

Clinton answered friendly questions on stage in a session moderated by Jay Jacobs, a New York summer camp executive who supported Clinton's New York Senate bid and serves as chairman of the Nassau County, N.Y., Democratic Party.

The former secretary of state did not address recent criticism of her use of a personal email account at the State Department and was not asked about it.

Preparing for a campaign, Clinton has often spoken of the need for congressional leaders to work together even while she