Hillary Clinton determined to win the White House
Moldova.ORG -- Hillary Rodham Clinton aims to become the first woman elected U.S. president. The wife of former President Bill Clinton entered the 2008 U.S. presidential race on Saturday.
"I'm in. And I'm in to win," she announced on her website.
Clinton, 59, was re-elected by a huge margin to a second Senate term in November and is seen as a front-runner among Democratic contenders. She declared her plans for a presidential exploratory committee, which allows her to raise money and hire staff.
"Only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism. Let's talk about how to bring the right end to the war in Iraq and restore respect for America around the world," she said.
Also, Clinton enjoys the political benefits of her husband. "She comes in with Bill Clinton. She comes in with celebrity. She comes in with money. She comes in with name recognition. She comes in with a built-in following," said Lee Miringoff, pollster with the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, New York.
One-third of Democrats said they would definitely support Clinton. That put her ahead of 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Other candidates include Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Ohio Rep.Dennis Kucinich and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday shows Clinton is the favorite of 41 percent of Democrats, more than double the support of any of her rivals.
"I concluded, based on the work of my lifetime and my experience and my understanding of what our country has to confront in order to continue to make opportunity available to all of our citizens here and to restore our leadership and respect of America around the world, that I would be able to do that — to bring our country together to meet those tough challenges," she said.
Despite of her confidence, experts say Clinton is a complicated package. "She doesn't fit the mold," says Elizabeth Ossoff, a political psychologist at St. Anselm's College in Manchester, N.H. She predicts "a difficult but very interesting race. A lot of things are going to get brought up, and people are going to have to face their opinions."
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Jan. 5-7 suggests some of the potential obstacles in her path. In the poll, 14% of Democrats said they would not support Clinton as their party nominee; 52% said they might consider her. When the two groups were asked about "major reasons" they might not or would not support her, 29% cited a belief that she can't win the presidency; 26% pointed to disagreement with her on issues.
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