Makes me wonder if they are trying to convince themselves or big donors who are sitting on campaign bucks...
I'll go with "b".
They have to know that they are impotent to stop her from running, if she wishes, in the manner she wishes. The best they can do is to try to make some lemonade from those lemons by pushing the idea that she's not running, so "settle for me (or my guy)" instead while pretending that her unofficial campaign isn't a prelude to an official one.