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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured in October 2012, has become one of the most powerful people in Washington. Here's a look at her life and career through the years.
Before she married Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here, Rodham talks about student protests in 1969, which she supported in her commencement speech at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Rodham, center, a lawyer for the Rodino Committee, and John Doar, left, chief counsel for the committee, bring impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in the Judiciary Committee hearing room at the U.S. Capitol in 1974.
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton helps first lady Rosalynn Carter on a campaign swing through Arkansas in June 1979. Also seen in the photo is Hillary Clinton, center background.
Bill Clinton embraces his wife shortly after a stage light fell near her on January 26, 1992. They talk to Don Hewitt, producer of the CBS show "60 Minutes."
With Hillary, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton waves to the crowd at his victory party after winning the Illinois primary on March 17, 1992.
Al Gore, Tipper Gore, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton wave to supporters at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, after they gave speeches on family values on August 23, 1992.
Clinton gestures at a campaign rally November 3, 1992, in Denver. After taking office, President Clinton chose his wife to head a special commission on health care reform, the most significant public policy initiative of his first year in office.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have a laugh together on Capitol Hill in 1993.
Clinton pours herself a cup of tea in 1993 while testifying to the Senate Education and Labor Committee about health care reform.
Clinton speaks at George Washington University on September 10, 1993, in Washington during her husband's first term.
Clinton waves to the media on January 26, 1996, as she arrives at federal court in Washington for an appearance before a grand jury. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas.
Hillary Clinton looks on as President Clinton discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998.
Hillary and Bill Clinton arrive at Foundry United Methodist Church on August 16, 1998, in Washington. He became the first sitting president to testify before a grand jury when he testified via satellite about the Lewinsky matter.
Clinton shakes hands during a St. Patrick's Day parade in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, New York, on March 5, 2000.
Clinton waves to the crowd as she arrives on the stage at the Democratic National Convention on August 14, 2000, in Los Angeles.
Clinton campaigns for a Senate seat October 25, 2000, at Grand Central Station in New York.
Hillary Clinton is sworn in as a senator of New York in a re-enactment ceremony with, from left, President Clinton, nephew Tyler, daughter Chelsea, brother Hugh Rodham, mother Dorothy Rodham and Vice President Al Gore on January 3, 2001, in Washington.
Andrew Cuomo, Eliot Spitzer and Clinton celebrate with a crowd of Democratic supporters after their wins in various races November 7, 2006, in New York.
Clinton speaks during a post-primary rally on January 8, 2007, at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The Clintons pay a visit to the 92nd annual Hopkinton State Fair in Contoocook, New Hampshire, on September 2, 2007.
Clinton speaks at a campaign rally September 2, 2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton addresses a question during a debate with other Democratic presidential candidate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on September 26, 2007. Also pictured are U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, left, and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.
Felipe Bravo, left, and Christian Caraballo are covered with Hillary Clinton stickers in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 8, 2008.
Clinton campaigns in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with her daughter, Chelsea, on January 1, 2008, two days ahead of the January 3 state caucus.
Clinton waves as she speaks to supporters at the National Building Museum on June 7, 2008, in Washington. After pulling out of the presidential race, Clinton thanked her supporters and urged them to back Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.
Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a Unity Rally in Unity, New Hampshire, on June 27, 2008.
Obama watches Clinton address the Democratic National Convention on August 26, 2008. The two endured a long, heated contest for the 2008 nomination.
Sen. Charles Schumer, left, looks toward Secretary of State designate Clinton as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry, center, looks on during nomination hearings January 13, 2009, on Capitol Hill.
Clinton testifies during her confirmation hearing for secretary of state on January 13, 2009, in Washington.
Clinton, as secretary of state, dances with a local choir while visiting the Victoria Mxenge Housing Project in Philippi, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, on August 8, 2009.
Clinton looks through binoculars toward North Korea during a visit to an observation post July 21, 2010, at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
Clinton walks up the steps to her aircraft as she leaves a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on July 23, 2010, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Hillary and Bill Clinton pose on the day of their daughter's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky on July 31, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Clinton observe a moment of silence before a NATO meeting November 19, 2010, in Lisbon, Portugal.
Clinton listens as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu makes a brief statement November 29, 2010, before a bilateral meeting at the State Department in Washington.
Clinton shakes hands with a child during an unannounced walk through Tahrir Square in Cairo on March 16, 2011.
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Clinton and members of Obama's national security team receive an update on the Osama bin Laden mission May 1, 2011, in the Situation Room of the White House.
Clinton checks her personal digital assistant prior to departing Malta on October 18, 2011.
Clinton speaks as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai listens during a news conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 7, 2012.
Clinton arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel on July 15, 2012.
Clinton looks on as Obama makes a statement in response to the attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya on September 12, 2012.
Clinton applauds Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a ceremony where Suu Kyi was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal on September 19, 2012.
Bill Clinton kisses his wife after introducing her at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting on September 24, 2012, in New York City.
Clinton shakes hands with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf on September 24, 2012, in New York.
Clinton stands during a news conference following meetings at the prime minister's office in Pristina, Kosovo, on October 31, 2012. Clinton said that Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, fiercely opposed by Serbia, was "not up for discussion."
Clinton chats with Suu Kyi before Obama speaks at the University of Yangon in Yangon, Myanmar, on November 19, 2012.
Obama looks at Clinton before the start of a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, far right, during the East Asian Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 20, 2012.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Clinton at the prime minister's office November 20, 2012, in Jerusalem.
Clinton receives a sports jersey and football helmet from Deputy Secretary Tom Nides, center, after returning to work on January 7, 2013, following a fall where she hit her head and doctors later detected a blood clot. The number 112 represented the number of countries that she had visited as secretary of state.
Clinton and her husband arrive for the inauguration for Obama's second term on January 21, 2013.
Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on January 23, 2013. Lawmakers questioned Clinton about the security failures during the Benghazi, Libya, attacks that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
From left, first lady Michelle Obama stands with former first ladies Laura Bush, Clinton, Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter at the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on April 25, 2013.
From left, Clinton, former first lady Laura Bush and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush listen to speakers during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa, on December 10.
Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries conference in Las Vegas on April 10.
Clinton tours the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York with President Barack Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Clinton on May 15.
Hillary Clinton talks with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer on Thursday, June 5, for her first television interview in conjunction with the release of her new book.
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- Hillary Clinton gets a gift from the Republicans as she rolls out her book
- David Gergen says Eric Cantor's defeat is a big plus for Clinton if she runs in 2016
- He says it diminishes the chance that she would face a GOPer with appeal to moderates
- Gergen: By placing immigration reform in jeopardy, the upset hurts GOP's 2016 appeal
Editor's note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on Twitter at @david_gergen. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Hillary Clinton's book roll-out the past few days has shown, as expected, that she still commands an army of rapturous fans, but the best news for her this week came from the completely unexpected: the defeat of Republican leader Eric Cantor.
Rarely has a GOP primary for a seat in the House of Representatives had such wide repercussions. For Clinton, they almost all run in her favor. Consider just three:
(1) Prior to the Cantor defeat, the GOP "establishment" thought they were starting to persuade middle-of-the-road voters that their party is not hostage to the tea party. After all, GOP establishment candidates so far this year have won five of seven Senate primaries where they were challenged by tea party candidates, most notably Mitch McConnell's victory in Kentucky. A public narrative was emerging that tea partiers remained a potent and, yes, welcome force in the GOP but that they aren't in charge.
The defeat of Cantor was a thunderclap transforming the landscape. Because Cantor is perceived as a strong conservative, and yet lost to an unknown on his right, the narrative has changed: Now the story line is that the GOP base is not only angry but demands even tougher conservatism and even less compromise.
Dave Brat's upset primary victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia joins a long list of political table turning at the polls. The most famous was in 1948 when Democratic President Harry Truman won the election over Republican Thomas Dewey. The Chicago Daily Tribune initially called the race for the New York governor. Click for more political upsets.
1972: Democrat Joe Biden was a fresh faced, political newcomer when he defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Caleb Boggs.
1976: First term Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter bested a field of better known Democrats to become his party's presidential nominee.
1994: Republican George Pataki, a former small town mayor and state lawmaker, beat Democratic incumbent Mario Cuomo for governor in New York.
2004: Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, lost to Republican Rep. John Thune—the first time since the 1950s a party leader had lost re-election.
2006: After losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, Sen. Joe Lieberman became an Independent and won the general election.
2010: After losing the primary to tea party backed Joe Miller, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski won in the general election after mounting a write-in campaign -- the first time a senator had successfully done that in more than 50 years.
2010: Republican Scott Brown, a Massachusetts state senator, beat Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley in a special election for U.S. Senate.
2014: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost the Republican primary to college professor Dave Brat, a political novice. Brat seen Tuesday night in Richmond, Virginia.
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Surprising political upsets
Photos: Political upsets
All this plays directly into Clinton's hands. If she formally declares, she can now stand before the electorate and assert with greater credibility that she -- not the GOP -- represents sensibility and moderation, a leader eager to work across the aisle. She even has greater latitude to embrace some of Elizabeth Warren's positions, appealing to the rise of a populist left, so long as she doesn't veer too far from the middle (where most voters still are).
(2) Cantor's defeat all but extinguishes lingering hopes that Congress and President Obama can work out a bipartisan agreement on immigration reform. Two post-election polls have suggested that Cantor's perceived openness to immigration reform was not the decisive factor in his defeat, but his opponent certainly seized on immigration as a stick to beat him over the head as an out-of-touch, wrong-headed reform advocate.
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In the wake of his defeat, it's hard to see how other Republican incumbents will follow Cantor's path. And for starters, they will likely be very wary of voting for immigration reform until dust settles.
That, of course, is bad news for the GOP presidential nominee in 2016 and good news for Clinton if she is the Democratic standard bearer. Mitt Romney could only garner 27% of the Hispanic vote in 2012, far below the 40% that pundits think is mandatory for victory. Unless it finds a way out of the cul de sac, the GOP share could sink even lower this time.
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(3) We haven't yet heard from that corner, but one can only imagine that the Cantor defeat, tied so closely to charges that he was for "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, is prompting second thoughts by Jeb Bush and his many admirers about whether 2016 is the right year for him to run. If Bush's deep belief in immigration reform would tear apart his party in the primaries and make his path to the White House perilous at best, why should he?
If Jeb Bush decides not to go, that would be extremely welcome news to the Clinton camp. From the point of view of Democrats, the most obvious threat to a Clinton victory is a Republican governor conservative enough to unite his party but moderate and experienced enough to pull in purple states. Jeb Bush and Chris Christie are the two who come closest to that profile.
Conservatives may disagree -- many genuinely believe that a Rand Paul can win -- but Democrats will quietly celebrate if neither Bush nor Christie tops the Republican ticket.
It is an oddity of American democracy that a tiny number of voters -- fewer than 8,000 -- in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, can substantially alter the national outlook. But we live in odd, unpredictable times. No doubt other big surprises lie ahead before November 2016.
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