Hillary makes bid for presidency
Hillary makes bid for presidencyChidanand Rajghatta
WASHINGTON: It was more a question of when, rather than if. Hillary Clinton answered that on Saturday with a message on her website that began by declaring, "I'm in. And I'm in to win."
The former first lady and New York Senator thus becomes the first woman to seek the the US presidency in the country's 230-year history that has seen 43 presidents — all white anglo-saxon males.
Hillary also enters what promises to be the most diverse political field in a presidential race history. Her announcement comes days after freshman senator Barack Obama, a black son of an immigrant, threw his hat into the ring. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who is hispanic, is expected to declare his candidature on Sunday.
But Hillary is widely expected to lead the crowded field that includes half dozen other aspirants from the Democratic side, including former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards and Senator Joe Biden. With a big campaign chest and the ability to raise millions more, a master strategist as spouse, and high visibility, she straightaway becomes the frontrunner.
"The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008," Hillary declared in her online announcement, now a standard operating procedure in the US (Obama also declared online). "As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism."
The New York Senator announced that she will form an exploratory committee to run for president and invited the American people to "join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country — about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures."
In the past few weeks, Senator Clinton has become a sharp critic of the war in Iraq (after initially having supported it). Her pet project — health care reform — which nearly destroyed her husband's presidency during his first term, has also leapt back front and center with the Republican leaders crying for changes.
Clinton, who has been a New York Senator for six years and is now into her second term, said she would spend three days answering questions from Americans in a series of live video web discussions starting Monday, January 22, at 7 pm EST. Clinton took the seat of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former US ambassador to India, in the US Senate.
Although her six years in the Senate have been relatively quiet, Hillary Clinton has been one of the most polarising figures in American politics. From her time as a working first lady in Arkansas, where her husband was a young governor, to her strong presence in the White House, where she wielded considerable influence, she has been a stormy petrel in American politics.
New Delhi would have special reason to look forward to her candidature since it was her breakthrough visit to India in March 1995 that opened up the Clinton administration's warm engagement with India, a tie-up that took on strong strategic overtones in under the post 9/11 Bush administration. She has strong support from the Indian-American community and many prominent NRIs and PIOs are big contributors to her campaign.
A Clinton-Obama tie-up, with the junior senator as a vice-presidential candidate, would make it an all-minority Democratic ticket, but that is considered unlikely — in part because both have strong Chicago roots and both appeal to similar constituencies.
With more than 18 months to go before the election, there will be plenty of jostling before the Democratic line-up is decided.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/The_United_States/Hillary_makes_historic_bid_for_US_Prez/articleshow/1343641.cms
WASHINGTON: It was more a question of when, rather than if. Hillary Clinton answered that on Saturday with a message on her website that began by declaring, "I'm in. And I'm in to win."
The former first lady and New York Senator thus becomes the first woman to seek the the US presidency in the country's 230-year history that has seen 43 presidents — all white anglo-saxon males.
Hillary also enters what promises to be the most diverse political field in a presidential race history. Her announcement comes days after freshman senator Barack Obama, a black son of an immigrant, threw his hat into the ring. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who is hispanic, is expected to declare his candidature on Sunday.
But Hillary is widely expected to lead the crowded field that includes half dozen other aspirants from the Democratic side, including former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards and Senator Joe Biden. With a big campaign chest and the ability to raise millions more, a master strategist as spouse, and high visibility, she straightaway becomes the frontrunner.
"The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008," Hillary declared in her online announcement, now a standard operating procedure in the US (Obama also declared online). "As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism."
The New York Senator announced that she will form an exploratory committee to run for president and invited the American people to "join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country — about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures."
In the past few weeks, Senator Clinton has become a sharp critic of the war in Iraq (after initially having supported it). Her pet project — health care reform — which nearly destroyed her husband's presidency during his first term, has also leapt back front and center with the Republican leaders crying for changes.
Clinton, who has been a New York Senator for six years and is now into her second term, said she would spend three days answering questions from Americans in a series of live video web discussions starting Monday, January 22, at 7 pm EST. Clinton took the seat of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former US ambassador to India, in the US Senate.
Although her six years in the Senate have been relatively quiet, Hillary Clinton has been one of the most polarising figures in American politics. From her time as a working first lady in Arkansas, where her husband was a young governor, to her strong presence in the White House, where she wielded considerable influence, she has been a stormy petrel in American politics.
New Delhi would have special reason to look forward to her candidature since it was her breakthrough visit to India in March 1995 that opened up the Clinton administration's warm engagement with India, a tie-up that took on strong strategic overtones in under the post 9/11 Bush administration. She has strong support from the Indian-American community and many prominent NRIs and PIOs are big contributors to her campaign.
A Clinton-Obama tie-up, with the junior senator as a vice-presidential candidate, would make it an all-minority Democratic ticket, but that is considered unlikely — in part because both have strong Chicago roots and both appeal to similar constituencies.
With more than 18 months to go before the election, there will be plenty of jostling before the Democratic line-up is decided.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/The_United_States/Hillary_makes_historic_bid_for_US_Prez/articleshow/1343641.cms
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