ABC breaks a story that was already accidentally broken by Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina that all 16 of the women Democrats in the U.S. Senate signed a joint letter encouraging former senator (and former several other things) Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016.

The story mentioned that the signatories include Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand as two who may be potential candidates if Clinton doesn’t run, but who would put those ambitions on hold if Clinton does.

Personally, without claiming any special knowledge, I’m willing to believe that no irreversible final decision has been made but that Clinton is already a candidate, to the extent that one can be before formally announcing, and that all measures are being taken to move in that direction. Further, it’s hard to picture a prominent woman Democrat who would challenge her for the nomination.

Still, the unanimous letter was supposed to be confidential until Hagan (who has apologized for doing so) blurted out a reference to it on Monday.

The cutest thing in the story, in case you don’t click through, was a mention of an earlier occasion, after the 2012 election, when all 20 women senators submitted to a joint interview. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, confided that her 8-year-old daughter had asked her not to run for president because she (the daughter) wanted to be the first woman president. That caused Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to interject: “Well she’d better call Hillary.”