“Vowing to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares” is not giving them away, it should be noted,

“In January, the couple hired David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama’s 2008 presidential run, as president of policy and advocacy. Plouffe had previously worked at Uber. Ken Mehlman, who ran President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, also sits on the board. (Politico)

“And earlier this year, the couple also brought on Amy Dudley, a former communications adviser to Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.

“Benenson’s involvement in the group gives them access to someone who was one of the top lieutenants of Clinton’s doomed campaign and Obama’s longtime pollster, just as speculation about Zuckerberg’s political ambitions is mounting.

“Benenson did not respond to a request for comment. Dudley, the spokeswoman for the initiative, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“Even though he has said he has no interest in running for office, Zuckerberg’s name – along with just about every other billionaire or elected official with half the name recognition of a second-tier Trump adviser – has been floated as a potential 2020 presidential candidate.

“Zuckerberg, 33, stirred the speculation in June when he posted pictures of his road trip through Iowa, the first state to caucus in the primaries, as part of the tech entrepreneur’s year-long project to visit every U.S. state. He has also toured a Ford assembly plant outside Detroit, a key city in the critical Rust Belt state that Clinton lost to Trump; and Dayton, Ohio, the state long considered an election bellwether.

“Some of you have asked if this challenge means I’m running for public office,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page last May. “I’m not.”

“Even before his is-he-or-isn’t-he road trip, Zuckerberg had shown an interest in politics and social issues. In 2010, he announced during an appearance on “Oprah” that he was donating $100 million to help fix the Newark City public school system. The influx of Facebook cash, however, didn’t generate the desired results, and the gift became a nationally-recognized failure of good intentions.

“But the hiring of Benenson is sure to fuel speculation that Zuckerberg is getting more serious about how he plays in the political and policy worlds.”