In advance of Hillary Clinton announcing the launch of her presidential campaign, offices have already opened in Arlington, Va.Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press
Refurbished and girded for battle, the Clinton political dreadnought awaits launching for a second campaign to seize the Democratic nomination for Hillary Clinton and restore the nation's most visible political duo to the White House.
For months, the former U.S. first lady's intention to become the first presidential spouse to return to the White House as commander-in-chief has been a carefully choreographed reveal. But the non-official candidacy, with its deliberate leaks and staged appearances designed to keep Ms. Clinton in the media spotlight as she nominally weighs whether to seek her party's nomination for president in 2016, is about to end.
Ms. Clinton is expected to announce her presidential intentions on Sunday through video and social media, a party official told Reuters on Friday.
When she launches, Ms. Clinton will immediately emerge as the front-runner in a race not yet started.
The Clinton campaign behemoth will have more of everything – more financial firepower, more political top guns and more ready foot soldiers, plus the armour of a thick skin hardened by decades of withering attacks – all making for what many regard as an unbeatable advantage.
Money, the lifeblood of U.S. politics, will be a key measure. Ms. Clinton is expected to overwhelm potential rivals for the Democratic nomination with a huge war chest.
"The floodgates are going to open immediately, and there's going to be a rush to get on the team," Don Peebles, who served on President Barack Obama's national finance committee, told The Hill. "There's nobody in the Democratic Party who can match her. Not even close."
For instance, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who tossed his hat in the Republican ring earlier this month, raised $4-million (U.S.) in the first week. Ms. Clinton might rake in 10 or 20 times than amount in her first week.
Polls of likely Democratic voters consistently show Ms. Clinton – who will be 69 on inauguration day in 2017, the same age as Ronald Reagan, America's oldest president when he took office – with 50-plus percentage support. Far astern – barely over 10 per cent – is Vice-President Joe Biden, 72 and twice a failed seeker of the Democratic nomination, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the darling of the party's left wing. Ms. Warren is officially not running. She has repeatedly said: "No, I'm not running and I'm not going to run."
Mr. Biden says he won't decide until summer. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, at 73 even older than Ms. Clinton or Mr. Biden, trails in the single digits. So does Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, 52, considered the most likely potential candidate of the next generation of Democrats.
Not surprisingly, Ms. Clinton is the odds-on favourite for the Democratic nomination. That deeply worries some party strategists and delights many Republicans because the last, and only, time Ms. Clinton ran a seriously contested election was eight years ago when she also entered the race considered the favourite – and Mr. Obama beat her. (Her Senate election in solidly Democrat New York State was a sure thing.)
In her last run for the Democratic presidential nomination, Ms. Clinton, in stark contrast to her husband, proved an unimpressive campaigner, regarded as both cold and remote and accused of feigning emotion to counter that image. Her supporters say this time will be different – that four years as secretary of state have honed her skills as a master of foreign policy, while grandmotherhood has softened her at times abrasive personality.
For a non-candidate, Ms. Clinton – or her non-campaign – makes sure her carefully calibrated view is known about everything.
"Praying for WalterScott's family. Heartbreaking & too familiar. We can do better – rebuild trust, reform justice system, respect all lives," Ms. Clinton tweeted Thursday after a police officer shot a fleeing, 50-year-old black man in the back multiple times. Meanwhile, just the name "Hillary" against a pale blue background adorns hillaryclinton.com, paid for the campaign-in-waiting group called "Friends of Hillary."
Just about everything is in place for what has been a deliberate, slow-motion unveil. Last week, Clinton spinmeisters were out explaining the headquarters for the non-yet-announced campaign were in trendy Brooklyn Heights, where, it was hoped, millennials would flock to reincarnate the sort of youthful fervour that surrounded Mr. Obama's "Hope and Change" campaign eight years ago.
Whether a woman who has been a familiar, and polarizing, figure on the political scene for decades can galvanize young voters, African-Americans and – especially – Hispanics in the 2016 cycle remains uncertain. Her age will haunt the campaign. So, too, may her health, perhaps unfairly: There's a persistent whispering campaign that the seriousness of the head injury Ms. Clinton suffered when she fell during her tenure at State has never been fully revealed.
The accumulated baggage of real and imagined scandals linked to the Clinton name, both from her husband's presidency and her own stint as secretary of state, offer plenty of fodder for her political opponents.
The most recent brouhaha over her private e-mail server – that allowed her to decide what documents she needed to turn over to government archives – enraged Republicans, who regard it as just the latest evidence that the Clintons believe the rules don't apply to them. And Ms. Clinton still faces more congressional questioning about her role – what she knew, when and what she did about it – when a U.S. ambassador was killed in Benghazi, Libya.
Nor will the issue of whether the Clinton Foundation is swayed by multimillion-dollar donations from powerful foreign interests go away. Ms. Clinton's name was added to the foundation, started by her husband, after she left the State Department. It also resumed accepting overseas donations.
"Recent donors include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany and a Canadian government agency promoting the Keystone XL pipeline," the Wall Street Journal reported recently. More than $2-billion has flowed into the Clinton Foundation over the last 15 years.
Recasting Ms. Clinton not as the familiar former first lady and peripatetic secretary of state but as a lifelong political advocate for the disadvantaged is expected to feature prominently in the campaign's early days.
Some critics suggest Ms. Clinton's age and track record, not what she was doing in her 30s and 40s, will dominate the political debate about her fitness. "Sixteen-hour days are one thing when you're in your 40s and another as you approach 70," warned conservative columnist Linda Chavez, the conservative columnist and highest-ranking woman in the Reagan administration, who is the same age as Ms. Clinton. "Women may hold a gender advantage with the public on some personal attributes, but age isn't one of them."
With a report from Reuters