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| Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign: world's worst-kept secret ends Sunday | Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign: world's worst-kept secret ends Sunday |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Hillary Clinton is prepared to formally declare her intention to run for president on Sunday, ending years of speculation over her ambitions to return to the White House as the first female president of the United States. | Hillary Clinton is prepared to formally declare her intention to run for president on Sunday, ending years of speculation over her ambitions to return to the White House as the first female president of the United States. |
| The political world’s worst-kept secret will officially escape out into the wild shortly before noon Eastern time with the launch of Clinton’s campaign website. As the Guardian first reported early Friday, the former secretary of state is scheduled to announce her second presidential candidacy on Twitter – alongside simultaneous video and email messages – while aboard a plane from New York to the critical primary state of Iowa. | The political world’s worst-kept secret will officially escape out into the wild shortly before noon Eastern time with the launch of Clinton’s campaign website. As the Guardian first reported early Friday, the former secretary of state is scheduled to announce her second presidential candidacy on Twitter – alongside simultaneous video and email messages – while aboard a plane from New York to the critical primary state of Iowa. |
| Related: 'Convince us you're not just the anointed one': Iowa waits for Hillary | |
| In the air, according to a source familiar with the campaign, Clinton will make calls to elected officials in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Throughout Sunday, she is scheduled to contact advisers in other campaign battlegrounds – in New Hampshire, where she is expected to visit later in the week, as well as South Carolina and Nevada – and to press, members of Congress, governors, labor leaders and so-called “superdelegates”, while setting up a “listening tour” of Iowa. | |
| But before Clinton picks up the phone, she will already be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016. | But before Clinton picks up the phone, she will already be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016. |
| Clinton’s silent announcement – there is no big speech expected on Sunday – will make her the third officially declared candidate for president, after Republican senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Florida senator Marco Rubio is expected to launch his campaign on Monday evening in Miami. | |
| She is the first Democrat to throw her hat in the race but faces potential challenges from Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, as well as the former Virginia senator Jim Webb. | |
| Related: Barack Obama says Hillary Clinton 'would make an excellent president' | |
| That Clinton would make a second bid for the White House, after an unsuccessful run in 2008, was all but confirmed earlier this month when her blossoming campaign apparatus leased two floors of office space in Brooklyn. Her team also lined up dozens of staffers in Iowa, as the Guardian reported last month. | That Clinton would make a second bid for the White House, after an unsuccessful run in 2008, was all but confirmed earlier this month when her blossoming campaign apparatus leased two floors of office space in Brooklyn. Her team also lined up dozens of staffers in Iowa, as the Guardian reported last month. |
| The low-key launch of a high-octane campaign in the key midwestern caucus state represents a test for whether Clinton can use intimate campaigning to her advantage. An internal campaign memo obtained by Politico on Saturday reminded Clinton staffers that “we are humble”. | The low-key launch of a high-octane campaign in the key midwestern caucus state represents a test for whether Clinton can use intimate campaigning to her advantage. An internal campaign memo obtained by Politico on Saturday reminded Clinton staffers that “we are humble”. |
| “We are never afraid to lose, we always out-compete and fight for every vote we can win,” campaign manager Robby Mook wrote to the growing Clinton team in the memo. “We know this campaign will be won on the ground, in states.” | “We are never afraid to lose, we always out-compete and fight for every vote we can win,” campaign manager Robby Mook wrote to the growing Clinton team in the memo. “We know this campaign will be won on the ground, in states.” |
| Although Clinton ran as the Democratic establishment’s favorite seven years ago, she was defeated in the primary by an upstart senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. The vaunted Clinton machine, then regarded as one of the most powerful forces in politics, was no match for the Obama campaign’s grassroots organizing and powerhouse fundraising. | Although Clinton ran as the Democratic establishment’s favorite seven years ago, she was defeated in the primary by an upstart senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. The vaunted Clinton machine, then regarded as one of the most powerful forces in politics, was no match for the Obama campaign’s grassroots organizing and powerhouse fundraising. |
| Related: Can Hillary Clinton overcome 'politics as usual' to bridge enthusiasm gap? | |
| Despite an initially contentious relationship, Clinton went on to serve in Obama’s administration as a highly influential secretary of state who weighed in on – and supported – the president’s risky operation to capture and kill Osama bin Laden. Her legacy grew more divisive following the 2012 attack on a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, among them US ambassador Christopher Stevens. | Despite an initially contentious relationship, Clinton went on to serve in Obama’s administration as a highly influential secretary of state who weighed in on – and supported – the president’s risky operation to capture and kill Osama bin Laden. Her legacy grew more divisive following the 2012 attack on a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, among them US ambassador Christopher Stevens. |
| Republicans have spent the last three years investigating Clinton’s response to the attack, which they have even argued is a disqualifier to her candidacy. “Her failure to defend the mission in Benghazi,” Paul told the Guardian in an interview Friday, “is an obstacle that may be very, very difficult for her to overcome.” | Republicans have spent the last three years investigating Clinton’s response to the attack, which they have even argued is a disqualifier to her candidacy. “Her failure to defend the mission in Benghazi,” Paul told the Guardian in an interview Friday, “is an obstacle that may be very, very difficult for her to overcome.” |
| More recently, Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state sparked controversy and led several more Republican presidential contenders to demand the release of her emails. Republicans have also gone after the Clinton family’s foundation, especially the identity and background of its donors. | More recently, Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state sparked controversy and led several more Republican presidential contenders to demand the release of her emails. Republicans have also gone after the Clinton family’s foundation, especially the identity and background of its donors. |
| Numerous polls nonetheless show Clinton holding an edge over nearly all of the Republican hopefuls, a lead that only grows among minorities and women. She also trounces most of her potential opponents in polls for a Democratic primary. | |
| Related: Clinton's Iowa problem: Democrats sceptical as troubling trends emerge | Related: Clinton's Iowa problem: Democrats sceptical as troubling trends emerge |
| But Clinton’s advantage has slipped in multiple swing states, according to some recent polls, including one last week that placed Paul ahead in Iowa. She also holds an increasingly narrow gap in hypothetical match-ups against several of her presumed Republican opponents, such as Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. | But Clinton’s advantage has slipped in multiple swing states, according to some recent polls, including one last week that placed Paul ahead in Iowa. She also holds an increasingly narrow gap in hypothetical match-ups against several of her presumed Republican opponents, such as Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. |
| No matter the seismic, dynastic Clinton advantage, nearly two-thirds of Democrats still think she would be well-served to have a more serious challenger from within her party. | No matter the seismic, dynastic Clinton advantage, nearly two-thirds of Democrats still think she would be well-served to have a more serious challenger from within her party. |
| With 577 days remaining before Election Day, much remains unclear about the candidacy of an immediate liberal frontrunner. But after seven years of speculation, the “will-she-or-won’t-she” question won’t be about running for the White House for much longer – it becomes about whether she can re-occupy it. | With 577 days remaining before Election Day, much remains unclear about the candidacy of an immediate liberal frontrunner. But after seven years of speculation, the “will-she-or-won’t-she” question won’t be about running for the White House for much longer – it becomes about whether she can re-occupy it. |