I began my fund-raising odyssey on behalf of Senator Clinton as a small dollar donor. Like others, I went slightly over in my contributions to the primary and I just received an email from Senator Clinton asking me to reallocate the excess funds to her 2012 Senate campaign fund (one does this via a simple online process and if one does nothing one's excess donation is automatically refunded within 60 days). 2012: another Presidential election year. And if one chooses to reallocate one's funds to Senator Clinton's Senate campaign fund - as I did - note this language on the online form:

I hereby verify that my 2008 general election contribution may be designated to the 2012 Senate election. I designate the entire amount to the 2012 primary election, however, if I have already contributed to the 2012 primary, I designate any amount in excess of $2,300 to the 2012 general election.

Significance: regardless of what happens this year, it appears Senator Clinton is already planning for a presidential candidacy in 2012 (note that she would need to raise funds for that even if she became the party's nominee this year, since she would then be running for reelection in 2012).