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[h=4]Hillary Clinton launches 2016 presidential bid[/h]Hillary Clinton is now officially a 2016 presidential candidate.
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Hillary Clinton has officially launched her 2016 presidential bid. Watch the video that kicks off her campaign. VPC
Framegrab from Hillary Clinton campaign video released on YouTube announcing her run for president on Sunday, April 12, 2015.(Photo: Hillary for America via YouTube)
Hillary Clinton formally launched her second presidential bid today, vowing to be the champion for "everyday" American families and to strengthen the economy.
"Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top," Clinton said in a video posted on her website, hillaryclinton.com.
"Everyday Americans need a champion. I want to be that champion so you can do more than just get by, so you can get ahead and stay ahead," she said. "Because when families are strong, America is strong."
The long-awaited announcement was preceded by an email from campaign chairman John Podesta to supporters, which was first reported by the Associated Press. A formal campaign kickoff isn't expected until next month.
First, Clinton will head to small communities in Iowa for roundtable discussions with students and educators in Monticello and small business owners in Norwalk, on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
The approach is part of a different strategy Clinton is taking from her 2008 campaign, which will focus on convincing voters through small-group settings that she has ideas for helping the middle class and the skills to govern.
Clinton's declaration that she's in the race ends two years of less-than-subtle preparation: giving speeches, promoting the causes of the Clinton family's charitable foundation, and assembling a staff for the 2016 race.
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Clinton gave a glimpse of what drives her to reach for history as the first woman elected president of the United States, in the new epilogue she wrote for the paperback edition of Hard Choices, her memoir about her tenure at the State Department.
"Becoming a grandmother has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as stewards of the world we inherit and will one day pass on," Clinton wrote. "I'm more convinced than ever that our future in the 21st century depends on our ability to ensure that a child born in the hills of Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta or the Rio Grande Valley grows up with the same shot at success that Charlotte (her granddaughter) will."
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The former secretary of State enters the campaign as the overwhelming favorite to capture the Democratic nomination with a significant lead over all her potential rivals in polls. Her credentials are deep, from her service as the nation's top diplomat in President Obama's first term to eight years as a U.S. senator representing New York.
Yet concerns about dynasties in politics and whether Clinton's nomination is a pre-ordained conclusion will follow her. Potential rivals such as Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor, have knocked the idea of whether Clinton's nomination is inevitable.
"The public is concerned about this," said John Hudak, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. "The best way for her to get past it is to run as a prospective Democratic nominee like she's in a field with 10 other candidates. ... She wants to be an ideas candidate and not just someone who has the resume for the job."
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Those close to Clinton say she will run a different campaign than in 2008, when she won 17.5 million votes in the Democratic primary against then-senator Barack Obama. That campaign reminded voters of both Clintons at their best — the ability to inspire female voters — and worst — Bill Clinton's unbridled comments that belittled then-senator Barack Obama.
"You have to be talking about the issues where people live and where there experiences are," said Bonnie Campbell, co-chair of Hillary Clinton's 2008 Iowa campaign. " I'm very certain that Hillary understands we just got trounced in an election because we didn't have a message that people didn't understand or we just didn't get out."
Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who worked in the Clinton White House, said Clinton needs to go small but be authentic.
"This election is where you have to win by giving voters a big idea and an idea that is true to you," he said. "If you come out with an idea that's looking toward the future and talk about the middle class and the challenges we face and you have a theory of how to address that ... you transcend the issues that percolate out there in the pre-campaign phase."
Now 67, Clinton has been on the national stage, and sparking controversy, since the 1992 presidential campaign, when Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, joked about voters getting "two for the price of one'' if he were elected. To some voters, she was a refreshing role model for working women; to others, she seemed abrasive and elitist.
During her two terms as first lady, Clinton broke new ground by becoming involved in policy. She chaired a health care task force that tried, and failed, to pass legislation guaranteeing universal health care. She was more successful at drawing attention to women's status: in a speech in Beijing in 1995, she declared that "women's rights are human rights.''
Controversy erupted even before Clinton formally launched her campaign when it was revealed in March that she had used only her personal e-mail rather than a government account during her four years as secretary of State, and that e-mails had been housed on a private server set up in the Clinton home.
Clinton said her personal email use was allowed by State Department policy at the time and that in 2014 she turned over just under half of her emails to the government as work-related. She deleted the remainder as personal, she said. None of the emails contained classified information, the State Department says.
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Some Democrats rally to Clinton, others hold off
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Republicans slam Hillary Clinton
In advance of Clinton's formal announcement, the Republican National Committee launched a six-figure online ad campaign as part of its "stop Hillary" effort.
"If you were me and you were chairman of the national party and you had someone on the ticket that would unite your party, would help you raise a lot of money and help you recruit a ton of volunteers, you would want nothing more than Hillary Clinton to be on the other side," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation.
Follow @USATMoore and @ccamia on Twitter.
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Jump into the political way-back machine to see three decades of presidential hopefuls announce their big plans. VPC
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