TOKYO (Reuters) - Leather, fur and kimono-like draped fabric met in bold fusion on Thursday as designer Hiroko Koshino showed off skills honed through decades of rivalry with her two sisters, both also designers in a fashion family spanning several generations.

Koshino's collection, "Floral Memories," was a highlight of the final days of Japan Fashion Week, showing the autumn and winter collections of 2013-14, which ends this week.

Koshino, at 76 one of Japan's more enduring internationally known designers, featured flowers and combined her characteristic look of draped and folded fabrics recalling traditional kimonos and centuries-old textile patterns with accents of sequins and pink.

Short, sheath-like dresses in bright colors were paired with quilting, leather and touches of fur. She accentuated loose gray dresses with elbow-length leather gloves and epaulets.

"I wanted to consider what's beautiful in the world, and that's flowers. My version of flowers isn't romantic but rather a vision of art," she said in an interview.

"I wanted to give the clothing the suggestion of flower buds swelling, draping and rounded at the shoulders."

Koshino is the eldest of three daughters. Her father, a tailor, died in World War Two and she was raised by her mother, who ran a clothing store. Her bent towards fashion was encouraged by her mother, who fostered a competitive atmosphere at home.

All three girls - Hiroko, Junko and Michiko Koshino - became famous in the fashion industry, with Junko developing strong ties with China and Michiko basing herself in London. They were the subject of a TV series on Japanese broadcaster NHK that ran from 2011 to 2012.

Koshino's daughter Yuma is also a designer and will be showing her Yuma Koshino brand on March 22.

ASIAN INFLUENCE

"It's always Asian with me. This is an idiosyncrasy of mine," Koshino said. "But I try for a new fusion of East and West."

Asia has been a key theme of the week, with designers taking aim at Chinese consumers who have become the world's leading buyers of luxury goods, accounting for a quarter of the market globally, according to a report by consulting firm Bain & Co.

Although growth in China slowed last year, Bain is still forecasting growth of 4 percent to 6 percent a year for the global luxury market through 2015. It grew 10 percent in 2012 to about $280 billion, mainly driven by Chinese consumers.

Earlier in the week, Chinese-born Vivienne Tam presented a collection that fused Asian influences with modern styles with lots of reds reminiscent of the vermilion of traditional China.

"I was inspired by the conceptual underpinnings of the punk movement," she said in a statement. "Questioning the status quo and celebrating individuality but also uniting in our cultural identities, embracing paradox and life's essence: yin and yang."

Red dresses with inserts of leather fell straight from the shoulder, while others bore cartoonish prints. Jackets with a hint of a military cut were paired with slender black trousers.

Leather also featured prominently, whether in red or black leather shirts or black leather lines as accents on dresses.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Enbridge, whose pipelines carry the bulk of Canada's crude oil exports to the United States, said adjusted earnings rose to C$488 million, or 62 Canadian cents per share, from C$373 million, or 49 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

The company said results were driven by strong supply from oil sands projects in Alberta.

Demand for discounted Canadian crude by U.S. Midwest refiners remained high and drove an increase in long-haul barrels, the company said.

Enbridge is looking to expand its mainline system, the key artery for Canadian crude shipments to the U.S. Midwest.

Cash provided by operating activities in the quarter was C$793, up 22 percent from a year earlier.

"Although we are pleased to be off to a good start, we expect more moderate growth for the balance of the year," said Chief Executive Al Monaco.

First-quarter earnings attributable to common shareholders fell to C$250 million ($249 million), or 31 Canadian cents per share, from C$261 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company reiterated its full-year adjusted earnings forecast of C$1.74 to C$1.90 per share.

Enbridge is also seeking to build the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline system to carry Canadian crude to the country's Pacific coast, which would open up high-paying Asian markets for Canadian crude oil producers.

Shares of the company closed at C$47.55 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Scott Haggett in Calgary and Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the midst of the bitter national debate on gun violence, gun manufacturers and videogame makers are delicately navigating one of the more peculiar relationships in American business.

Violent "first-person shooter" games such as "Call of Duty" are the bread and butter of leading video game publishers, and authenticity all but requires that they feature brand-name weapons.

Electronic Arts licensed weapons from companies like McMillan Group International as part of a marketing collaboration for "Medal of Honor: Warfighter." Activision Blizzard gives "special thanks" to Colt, Barrett and Remington in the credits for its "Call of Duty" titles.

Rifles by Bushmaster, which made the gun used in the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting last December, have appeared in the hugely popular "Call of Duty."

Yet, in the wake of the Newtown shooting, the biggest advocate for gun ownership, the National Rifle Association, took aim at videogames to explain gun violence. One week after 20 schoolchildren and six adults were killed in the shooting, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre called the videogame industry "a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people."

Now at least one game maker, the second largest by revenue in the United States, is publicly distancing itself from the gun industry, even as it finds ways to keep the branded guns in the games. Electronic Arts says it is severing its licensing ties to gun manufacturers - and simultaneously asserting that it has the right, and the intention, to continue to feature branded guns without a license.

For the gunmakers, having their products in games is "free marketing, just like having Coca-Cola" in a movie, said Roxanne Christ, a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in Los Angeles, who works with video game companies on licensing, but has not personally done a gun deal.

Yet it is also a virtual double-edged sword. "It gives publicity to the particular brand of gun being used in the video game," said Brad J. Bushman, a professor at Ohio State University who has studied video game violence. "On the other hand, it's linking that gun with violent and aggressive behavior."

Gun makers, including the Freedom Group that owns brands like Remington and Bushmaster, and the NRA, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Reuters.

'ENHANCED AUTHENTICITY'

First-person shooter games let players blast their way through battlefields while looking down the barrel of a virtual gun, taking aim with the flick of a controller.

Some of those guns - like the Colt M1911 pistol in "Call of Duty" - turn sideways to face the screen during reloading, revealing the brand name. Games also offer lists of branded weapons to choose from.

Licensed images of weapons in "Medal of Honor: Warfighter" - a game that simulates military missions like fighting pirates in Somalia - offer what EA spokesman Jeff Brown calls "enhanced authenticity."

Back in the late 90's, video game makers initially approached gun companies for licenses to inoculate themselves from potential lawsuits, video game industry lawyers say. Over the years, legal clearances were granted for little or no money by gunmakers, these lawyers said.

Yet overt signs of cooperation between the video game and gun industries had begun to draw criticism even before the December school shooting in Connecticut.

In August, game fans and some video game news outlets vehemently objected to EA putting links to weapons companies like the McMillan Group and gun magazine maker Magpul, where gamers could check out real versions of weapons featured in the game, on its "Medal of Honor: Warfighter" game website.

"What kind of message is a video game publisher like EA sending when it encourages its players to buy weapons?" asked Laura Parker, the associate editor of gaming site GameSpot Australia in a post in August.

EA immediately removed the links and dropped the marketing tie-up, which it said was part of a charity project to raise money for military veterans. The company said it received no money from its gun company partners.

"We won't do that again," said Brown. "The action games we will release this year will not include licensed images of weapons."

EA said politics and NRA comments critical of game makers had nothing to do with its decision. "The response from our audience was pretty clear: they feel the comments from the NRA were a simple attempt to change the subject," Brown said.

EA also says video game makers can have branded guns in their games without getting licenses, meaning the industry could drop the gun companies and keep their guns.

Activision, the industry leader, declined to comment on whether it licenses gun designs from gun manufacturers or if it would stop doing so. Branded guns have consistently been featured in its blockbuster shooter games like the decade-old "Call of Duty."

"We're telling a story and we have a point of view," EA's President of Labels Frank Gibeau, who leads product development of EA's biggest franchises, said in an interview. "A book doesn't pay for saying the word 'Colt,' for example."

Put another way, EA is asserting a constitutional free speech right to use trademarks without permission in its ever-more-realistic games.

Legal experts say there isn't a single case so far where gun companies have sued video game companies for using branded guns without a license.

But EA's legal theory is now being tested in court. Aircraft maker Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc, has argued that Electronic Arts' depiction of its helicopters in "Battlefield" was beyond fair use and amounted to a trademark infringement. EA preemptively went to court, suing Bell Helicopter to settle the issue.

The U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, has set a jury trial for the case in June.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak, Editing by Peter Henderson, Jonathan Weber, Mary Milliken and Tim Dobbyn)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia motorists aren't seeing much movement in gas prices this week.

AAA East Central says the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline decreased less than a penny in the past week to a statewide average of $3.63. That's 18 cents cheaper than the same week a year ago.

Prices range from $3.57 in Wheeling to $3.68 in Bridgeport and Huntington.

Nationally, gas prices average $3.51. That's a penny less than a week ago, and 31 cents lower than a year ago.

LONDON (Reuters) - Drinking just one can of sugar-laced soda drink a day increases the risk of developing diabetes by more than a fifth, according to a large European study published on Wednesday.

Using data from 350,000 people in eight European countries, researchers found that every extra 12 fluid ounce (340 ml) serving of sugar-sweetened drink raises the risk of diabetes by 22 percent compared with drinking just one can a month or less.

"Given the increase in sweet beverage consumption in Europe, clear messages on the unhealthy effect of these drinks should be given to the population," said Dora Romaguera, who led with study with a team at Imperial College London.

A 12-fluid-ounce serving is about equivalent to a normal-sized can of Coca-Cola, Pepsi or other soft drink.

The findings echo similar conclusions from research in the United States, where several studies have shown that intake of sugar-sweetened drinks is strongly linked with higher body weight and conditions like type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition characterized by insulin resistance that affects around 2.9 million people in Britain and, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 310 million people worldwide.

Romaguera's team wanted to establish whether a link between sugary drinks and diabetes risk also existed in Europe.

For their study, they used data from 350,000 people from Britain, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Sweden, France, Italy, Netherlands who were questioned about their diet, including how many sugary and artificially sweetened soft drinks and juices they drank each day.

Writing in the journal Diabetologia, the researchers said their study "corroborates the association between increased incidence of Type-2 diabetes and high consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks in European adults".

Fruit juice consumption was not linked to diabetes incidence.

Patrick Wolfe, a statistics expert from University College London who was not involved in the research, said the message from its results was clear.

"The bottom line is that sugary soft drinks are not good for you - they have no nutritional value and there is evidence that drinking them every day can increase your relative risk for type 2 diabetes," he said in an emailed comment.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

Scientists are working to loft science gear by balloon to observe the fast-approaching Comet ISON, which could be one of the brightest comets ever seen when it blazes through the inner solar system this fall.

The project, called Balloon Rapid Response for ISON (BRRISON), aims to get high-quality views of , which experts say could shine as brightly as the full moon when it makes its closest pass by the sun in late November.

The sky-high BRRISON project also hopes to demonstrate that important planetary science questions can be addressed with a balloon platform, researchers say. It will be the first planetary-science balloon mission since 1963, when a Stratoscope II balloon lifted off to observe planets, stars and galaxies. []

A large helium-filled balloon will tote a gondola packed with aand other equipment to near space, soaring up to 120,000 feet (36,576 meters) altitude almost 23 miles (37 kilometers) above the Earth. The BRRISON balloon's gondola will carry infrared and near ultraviolet/visible imaging gear, along with fine steering mirror technology to obtain high pointing stability.

BRRISON is to be launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Flight Facility at Fort Sumner, N.M., in the September-October timeframe on a one-day observing trek.

Super pressure

The BRRISON project, which is being sponsored by NASA, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute, is moving fast, because time is of the essence.

Comet ISON officially designated C/2012 S1 (ISON) was just discovered in September 2012, by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok.

"We will be going from discovery of Comet ISON to start of the launch window for the balloon within one year," said Andrew Cheng, BRRISON principal investigator and chief scientist in the Space Department at APL in Laurel, Md.

Work on BRRISON has been underway since early February, Cheng told SPACE.com. "It's the fastest I've ever run in my life, he said. "From confirmation to start of the launch window, we will have six months. That's mighty fast, even for us, but the comet won't wait."[]

Thin atmosphere

Instrument-carrying high-altitude balloons can deliver cost-effective science, a high priority in this era of tighter budgets, said BRRISON team member Eliot Young, a principal scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Earth's atmosphere is thin up at BRRISON's observing atmosphere, Young said.

"You can compete with thefor getting sharp images, but at a tiny fraction of the cost," Young told SPACE.com.Young told SPACE.com.he Hubble Space Telescope for getting sharp images, but at a tiny fraction of the cost,"to 140,000 feet al The science equipment is divided up into two benches, "stacked like a wedding cake," he added.

Along with Comet ISON observations depending on expected duration of the balloon flight other celestial targets may come into focus, such as Asteroid Elektra, Comet Encke and two bright double stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, Young said.

Challenges

With the clock ticking, and Comet ISON clicking off mileage, the BRRISON team faces some challenges, Young said, such as matters of thermal control and the pointing accuracy of science-gathering instruments in the gondola.

"It's very similar to hanging an SUV from a 300-yard cable," Young said. "The good news is that wind disturbances in the stratosphere are, by and large, pretty benign."

With launch day only a few months away, the anticipation is building. "Balloon liftoffs are magical moments," Young said. The race to get BRRISON off the ground and get Comet ISON in view "is stressful ... but fun," he said.

"BRRISON is absolutely unique in terms of what we're going to measure at the comet. There's nothing else that can do it right now," Cheng said. "There are , but none of them happen to be in the right place at the right time ... and there isn't enough time to build something new. With a balloon, it's doable."

Sungrazing comet

An Oort Cloud comet believed to be making its first trip to the inner solar system, Comet ISON's perihelion or closest approach to occurs Nov. 28, when it's projected to skim about 730,000 miles (1.2 million km) above the solar surface. There's no guarantee ISON will survive this perilous passage intact, but BRRISON will observe the comet before perihelion.

BRRISON is geared to measure carbon dioxide and water, primary cometary volatiles. Found as ices in a comets nucleus, they drive cometary activity. Scientists want to know whether the abundances of these volatiles are related to whereformed, what they formed from and how they evolved.

Cheng said that most of the data gleaned by BRRISON will be recorded onboard and analyzed after landing.

"We'll also have immediate downlink data so we'll know on the spot how things are working," he said.

Target of opportunity

Comet ISON is an important target of opportunity, Cheng said, to study volatile-rich material from the epoch of planet formation; to learn how comets work; and to find clues to the origins of the solar system.

Furthermore, BRRISON will develop and demonstrate gondola and payload systems for a balloon-borne platform designed to achieve a range of planetary science objectives, Cheng added. BRRISON's gondola is designed to protect the payload during nominal recovery back on the ground, he said, enabling re-use.

"We're making new observations of an object that has never been observed before in the wavelengths well have. We've got to learn something new and exciting," Cheng said.

Editor's note:If you capture an amazing photo of Comet ISON or any other night sky sight that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at.

This story was corrected to reflect the fact that the BRRISON mission will fly on a Zero Pressure balloon, not a Super Pressure balloon.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and is co-author of Buzz Aldrins new book "Mission to Mars My Vision for Space Exploration" out in May from National Geographic. Follow us,or. Originally published on.

The big cat had escaped briefly after its turn in the ring Saturday at the Isis Shrine Circus in Salina. Staff members blocked off the concourses at the Bicentennial Center as the tiger wandered into the bathroom, where one of the doors was blockaded.

About that time, Salina resident Jenna Krehbiel decided she needed to use the restroom. When she walked in the door that hadn't been blocked off, she found a tiger standing about 2 feet away, The Salina Journal reported (http://bit.ly/11eq218 ).

"You don't expect to go in a bathroom door, have it shut behind you and see a tiger walking toward you," Krehbiel said.

Chris Bird, manager at the Bicentennial Center, said the bathroom was only 25 feet long.

"Once she saw the tiger, I'm sure she knew to go the other way," Bird said. "Overall, it was a scary, surreal moment. I am glad no one was hurt or injured."

The tiger was captured within minutes and returned to its enclosure.

Krehbiel, a social worker, said she didn't scream or run because she is trained to stay calm.

"Looking back, it was a scary ordeal," she said. "At the time, I was thinking I just needed to get out."

Krehbiel said her 3-year-old daughter had a different reaction.

"My daughter wanted to know if it had washed its hands," Krehbiel said. "That was her only concern. I think that shows the thoughts of children and that they wouldn't have known there was danger."

In "At Any Price," Ramin Bahrani plants a sweeping Midwest tale of fathers and sons, fields and seed. His camera floats over cornfields listening to the rustling of the stalks, but the somewhat graceless stabs of grandeur in "At Any Price" don't register in this uneven but respectably ambitious heartland drama.

Dennis Quaid stars as Henry Whipple, an obsessively driven Iowa seed salesman, a family business he has inherited, along with constant pressure, from his overbearing father (Red West). Efron plays Henry's rebellious, race car-driving son Dean. (In the lengthy history of James Dean odes and references, this may well be the most overt.)

Efron, a dashing screen presence making interesting choices for a heartthrob actor, attempts a classic American icon: a sweaty, sandy-haired, jean-wearing teenage trouble-maker. But the rebel role doesn't suit Efron: He doesn't have a lick of danger about him.

In any case, this is Quaid's movie. He's not your father's farmer. His thousands of acres aren't pastoral, so much as the backdrop to the hulking modern machinery that drives his small empire, one fed by genetically modified seeds that he aggressively sells to other farmers.

Early in the film, he and a reluctant Dean try to purchase land at a funeral. "Expand or die," is Henry's manta.

But Henry is struggling to grow. A rival seed salesman (an excellent, easy Clancy Brown) is dwarfing his business. He also finds himself under investigation for selling used seeds, the authorities tipped off mysteriously.

His family life isn't much better. He's cheating on his wife Irene (Kim Dickens) with a younger woman (Heather Graham). His older, more loved son has abandoned him to travel in South America. Dean has no interest in the family business, though his girlfriend (Maika Monroe) begins accompanying him on visits to his customers.

Checking up-to-the-minute corn prices on his phone and glad-handing his customers with awkward folksy cheer, Quaid's Henry Whipple is part businessman, part politician and all huckster. He papers over the less noble sides of his life with forced smiles and strong-willed evasion, but his eyes give away his desperation. It's a strong if sometimes grating performance in need of less cliche-ridden dialogue.

Only after a flash of violence occurs (an implausibly setup moment in the screenplay co-written by Bahrani and Hallie Elizabeth Newton) does Henry glimpses the price of his relentless capitalism. (And, no, the metaphors aren't subtle.)

There's much to admire about "At Any Price," with its seldom-seen portrait of men under financial, moral and corporate pressures. It can be applauded, too, for upending quaint notions of farm life in favor of a more realistic depiction of the modern agricultural industry.

But Bahrani, in his largest scale film yet and his first effort with big-name stars, seems to be wrestling with the balance of a more sizable production. His earlier indie films, like the simple but memorable "Man Push Car" (about the life of a Pakistani food cart seller in New York), show a depth of empathy.

When "At Any Price" draws to a crescendo, Dickon Hinchliffe's mournful score heavy-handedly signals the disturbing truths behind its characters' Midwest smiles and bright pastures. But the film hasn't quite earned the grim resonance it seeks. The harvest, begun with obviously good intentions, has been spoiled.

"At Any Price," a Sony Pictures Classics release, is rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, violence, some grisly images, and language. Running time: 101 minutes. Two stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Paul will be delivering a speech at Howard University on Wednesday, where hell talk about the importance of outreach to younger voters, as well as minority groups, according to his office. He also plans to address school choice and civil liberties.

The Kentucky Republicans appearance echoes the recommendations made in the Republican National Committees autopsy report, detailing why the party lost the 2012 election and urging the party to court minority and young voters. Pauls positions on foreign policy, Internet freedom, and reforming drug laws appeal to younger voters on college campuses. He also has targeted for drug crimes, which disproportionately affects African-Americans.

But Paul makes for an unusual GOP emissary to black voters. His libertarian, small-government bent is a tough sell in the African-American community, which has long viewed federal government intervention as necessary for securing equal rights. Blacks also make up a disproportionate share of the federal workforce.

While running for Senate in 2010, Pauls comments that the federal government shouldnt be involved in forcing private businesses not to racially discriminate created a firestorm. He had to scramble to clarify that he supports the Civil Rights Act and is against segregation in public spaces, , he seemed to reverse his position on discrimination by private entities.

The choice of venue for Pauls speech is also notable. Howard University rarely draws prominent Republican speakers to campus: Colin Powell gave , and in 1981, then-Vice President Bush and delivered the commencement speech. But George W. Bush to speak at Howard during his 2000 campaign, and Al Gore spoke instead. The younger Bushs name was floated to deliver the 2002 commencement speech, which was met with wide protest.

Republicans havent completely ignored major black communities or organizations. Mitt Romney spoke to the NAACP convention in 2012but he was  when he said he wanted to repeal President Obamas health care law. 

The partys tactics appear to be shifting after Romney lost the 2012 election while only pulling 6 percent of the black vote. National Republicans are increasingly acknowledging that the party can no longer ignore minority groups if it wants to remain relevant in the future. RNC chairman Reince Priebus met with black leaders in Brooklyn for a as part of GOP outreach efforts. The political impetus for Republicans to embrace immigration reform is tied to how badly they lost the Hispanic vote in 2012. Republicans like Jeb Bush have pushed school reform as an issue that could help the GOP make inroads with urban, minority voters.

It appears Paul has gotten the message. Hes already  to an important Hispanic group on immigration reformeven peppering it with some Spanish, for good measure. His plans to address school choice during his Howard speech also underscore an effort to speak on issues that resonate within the black community. That kind of approach, while not likely to win over many African-Americans, could at least make them think twice about the Republican Party. That alone could do wonders for the partys outreach efforts.

Its founders -- a 61-year-old former college professor and a 27-year-old former campaign aide -- seemed an unlikely pair to stir up grassroots support for .

But since its formation earlier this year and its official launch at the beginning of the month, the Ready for Hillary PAC has already had an impressive track record. The group, which calls itself "the nation's premier organization urging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016 and laying the groundwork of support for her potential candidacy," has developed more than a whiff of legitimacy.

According to organizers, financial contributions -- more than 1,000 of them -- have been pouring in. Activists have gathered for boisterous pro-Hillary events outside two of the former secretary of state's recent speaking appearances (in Washington, D.C., and New York). And Ready for Hillary has built a slick website and a fast-growing social media presence.

Ready for Hillary has also amped up its credibility in a big way over the past two weeks with a series of high-profile endorsements from three prominent Clinton backers: Democratic strategist James Carville, long-time Clinton confidant Harold Ickes and former California congresswoman Ellen Tauscher.

"She needs to know -- and it's our goal to demonstrate to her and to the country -- thatthere's an army ready to help her candidacy," the group's communications director Seth Bringman said in an interview with ABC News.

What began as a quirky venture run by Bringman and a handful of Clinton fanatics, is suddenly looking a lot more serious. Organizers are assembling something of a shadow campaign-in-waiting, complete with an email list 150,000 supporters strong -- and growing. And although the super PAC would be legally barred from coordinating with Clinton's campaign if she decides to run, the group's success in cultivating a grassroots network, raising money and sparking genuine passion for her candidacy (a political ingredient that Barack Obama arguably had in greater supply in 2008) could send a powerful signal to potential challengers from both parties and to Clinton herself, who remains the group's most important target audience.

Bringman said that the recent support from both Carville and Ickes was a "huge" boost for the organization.

"I'm not going to waste my time writing you about how great Hillary is or how formidable she'd be -- you know it all already," Carville wrote in a recent message sent to the group's email network. "But it isn't worth squat to have the fastest car at the racetrack if there ain't any gas in the tank -- and that's why the work that the Ready for Hillary PAC is doing is absolutely critical. We need to convert the hunger that's out there for Hillary's candidacy into a real grassroots organization."

Carville's note stressed one of the key reasons the small band of committed Hillary enthusiasts decided to form the group in the first place: Clinton had to cease her political organizing activities during her four years at the State Department.

"We owe it to Hillary to start putting the building blocks of her campaign together now," wrote Carville, who advised her 2008 presidential bid and served as a top strategist to Bill Clinton. "The modern political campaign demands it."

A few days later, Ickes, a Clinton stalwart and expert fundraiser, chimed in on behalf of the upstart group, telling the Sunday Times of London that he had signed on as an adviser.

And last week, Ready for Hillary circulated a news release trumpeting the addition of Tauscher, who served for three years as undersecretary of state in the Clinton administration, as a supporter and strategic adviser to the group.

"I have been up close to her -- as close as you can get," Tauscher said in an interview with ABC News. "She is second to none. I will support herwhatever she does, but selfishly, I hope she runs."

Tauscher, who represented a Northern California congressional district for a dozen years before leaving for the State Department, has already put her money where her mouth is. She wrote the group a $2,500 check this month.

Her donation was its first clue it had a potential big-name surrogate in the midst. Tauscher said that within hours of contributing to the Ready for Hillary website, a staff member called to ask if she was, in fact, "the Ellen Tauscher."

"I thought it was pretty funny," she said.

Bringman said the support of Tauscher and many others shows "there's no shortage of folks who want to help Hillary, want her to run for president and want to see her succeed."

As proof of that, he blasted out an email message to supporters over the weekend, noting that Ready for Hillary blew past the 100,000 fan mark on Facebook. He wrote that the group "has been expanding its social media base at a rate of one new person every 14 seconds," helping it amass more than 55,000 Twitter followers too.

Despite Ready for Hillary's thousands of newfound friends, the group currently employs just three paid staffers: Bringman, who works out of his home in Columbus, Ohio, and worked on Clinton's 2008 bid; Matt Felan, the national finance director who is based in Michigan and served as deputy national finance director for Clinton's campaign five years ago; and Nickie Titus, the group's digital director who was director of digital media on Tim Kaine's successful 2012 Virginia Senate campaign.

The group's co-founders, Allida Black and Adam Parkhomenko, have been volunteering their time. Black was a professor at George Washington University for 20 years and is now an independent historian. In an office on the second floor of her brick colonial home in Arlington, Va., Black surrounds herself with books and photos of Clinton and other political leaders. Among her treasured possessions is a pair of orange high-top sneakers signed by Clinton that Black said she wore while traveling the country as a super-volunteer for Hillary during the 2008 campaign.

Black, who hatched the idea for Ready for Hillary with Parkhomenko shortly after the 2012 election said that the goal was simple: to "build the most effective operation that we can to buy Hillary some time."

"We are not a fly-by-night group," Black said. "We know what we're doing."

She and Bringman said that neither of them has received pushback from members of the Clinton's inner circle."We've gotten nothing but encouragement," Bringman noted, from people close to the former first lady. "I don't think there's anyone who would tell Hillary supporters not to express their support for her."

And organizers say they this is only the beginning. Parkhomenko plans to become the group's executive director next month. The finance operation will grow to include a team of regional fundraisers across the country. The group plans to acquire office space in the Washington, D.C., area sometime in the next few months. And the super PAC will file its first fundraising report this summer.

But supporters and donors such as Tauscher, who was effusive about Ready for Hillary's efforts when reached at her home in California last week, said the PAC's organic feel was what attracted her to it in the first place.

"That's what I loved about it," she said. "There's nothing better than to have a real grassroots movement made up of grassroots people that are much more in tune with people than those inside the Washington bubble."

Other Clintonites, however, continue to view the effort with a dose of skepticism. One former Clinton 2008 campaign staffer said Ready for Hillary appeared to be a good vehicle for the latent enthusiasm that exists for another Clinton White House bid but predicted that it would ultimately have little impact on her political calculus.

But Black, Parkhomenko, Bringman and their small band of Clinton warriors simply can't wait for Hillary to make up her mind.

"She's a leader of my lifetime," Black said, "and I could not sit this out in good conscience."