Hillary Clinton in White House race

WASHINGTON—Hillary Rodham Clinton will end months of speculation and launch her highly anticipated 2016 presidential campaign on Sunday, attempting a second bid at becoming America’s first woman president.

Seven years after her bitter nomination defeat to Barack Obama, the former secretary of state and one-time first lady would enter the race as the Democratic Party’s overwhelming favorite, as Clinton and her rivals gird for a bruising, 18-month campaign slog.

Her announcement is expected to be delivered via social media—perhaps in a tweet—and accompanied by a campaign kickoff video highlighting her economy-focused political philosophy, according to US news outlets citing sources close to Clinton operations.

It is expected to trigger a donor deluge from a vast network of supporters who have long waited for her to officially enter the race, a move that would allow them to contribute directly to her 2016 election effort.

Clinton’s campaign-in-waiting has organized for months behind the scenes, bringing on key staffers and advisers, plotting outreach operations and strategizing.

On Saturday, the campaign team hunkered down in Clinton headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, where upcoming campaign manager Robby Mook reportedly delivered a memo to staff urging teamwork in the months ahead.

“We are a diverse and talented family … and have each other’s backs,” the memo states, according to Politico, perhaps in an effort to avoid the infighting among top aides that marred Clinton’s 2008 run.

Praise from Obama

The 2016 campaign goal, the memo adds, is “to give every family, every small business, and every American a path to lasting prosperity by electing Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States.”

On Saturday, Clinton earned high praise from Obama, although experts warn she will have to tread a fine line in how closely she aligns herself with the incumbent.

“She was a formidable candidate in 2008. She was a great supporter of mine in the general election. She was an outstanding secretary of state. She is my friend,” Obama said at a regional summit in Panama.

“I think she would be an excellent president,” Obama said.

The US press has been awash with fevered will-she-or-won’t she for months.

Her Sunday announcement is expected to be followed by low-key campaign swings through Iowa and New Hampshire, states that hold the first votes early next year to determine the parties’ nominees.

Clinton, 67, has a team of organizers in Iowa, a fertile political probing ground ahead of national elections.

After the campaign launch, Clinton should “jump on a bus and barnstorm through Iowa touching all 99 counties and meet with people in cafes and other small venues” as she reintroduces herself to Americans, Iowa State University professor Steffen Schmidt told Agence France-Presse.

Leading in polls

The one-time US senator and wife of former president Bill Clinton leads opinion polls among Democrats, some 60 percent of whom say they would vote for her in the primaries, according to the website RealClearPolitics.

A humble approach may help dispel doubts about Clinton raised in recent weeks, after it was revealed she used a private e-mail account while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

Deleted e-mails

But she could face uncomfortable questions about the issue from voters, including why she deleted thousands of e-mails that she described as personal, then wiped her server clean.

Clinton would be the biggest political headliner to enter the race, although not the first.

Conservative Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, 44, made a splashy presidential campaign launch last month, and on April 7 fellow Sen. Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning first-term Republican, threw his hat in the ring.

Clinton’s rollout may well steal the thunder of another

Republican senator aiming for the White House, Marco Rubio, who is scheduled on Monday to make his own all-but-certain campaign declaration.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, son and brother of two presidents, is exploring a run and would be considered a Republican front-runner should he enter the fray.

Campaign strategy

Clinton’s campaign for the November 2016 election will emphasize her plans to deal with economic inequality and will tout the historic nature of her bid to become the first woman US president, aides say.

The strategy described by Clinton’s advisers has echoes of Obama’s successful 2012 reelection campaign. He framed the choice for voters as between Democrats focused on the middle class and Republicans wanting to protect the wealthy and return to policies that led to the 2008 economic collapse.

The advisers said Clinton would argue that voters have a similar choice in 2016. Clinton also intends to sell herself as being able to work with Congress, businesses and world leaders.

Clinton is not expected to roll out detailed policy positions in the first weeks of her campaign. Advisers said she planned to talk about ways families could increase take-home pay, the importance of expanding early childhood education and making higher education more affordable.

But after decades in the public eye as first lady, a US senator and secretary of state, she could face a challenge in showing a more down-to-earth side while connecting with ordinary voters.

Many Democrats have eagerly awaited Sunday’s announcement since the day in June 2008 when Clinton pulled out of her primary battle against Obama with an expression of regret that she could not crack “that highest and hardest glass ceiling this time.”

In New York on Saturday, at the final event put on by “Ready for Hillary,” a group not connected with her campaign that’s worked for the past few years to stoke excitement for it, enthusiastic supporters joined elected officials and local party leaders to celebrate the launch to come.

Opinion polls show Clinton has a huge lead over potential 2016 Democratic rivals, and few are expected to enter the race.

At least one West Coast bundler began making calls to top donors this past week, and will place another round of calls after the announcement Sunday, the source said.–Reports from AP and AFP

 

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