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Previously, in 2008, Clinton announced her decision to run for president on January 20, 2007. She was considered to be the front-runner in that race too and she ran ahead in the polls, until Illinois Senator Barack Obama began pulling ahead following the South Carolina primary. In the prolonged primary battle that followed, she received more than 18 million votes, but lost the nomination to Obama. As soon as Clinton ended her 2008 campaign there was talk of her running again in 2012 or 2016. She ended her tenure as Secretary of State in 2013, and listed her occupation on social media as "TBD", fuelling speculation that another run for the White House was in store.
By September 2013, amid continual political and media speculation, Clinton said she was considering a run but was in no hurry to decide. Later that year, she told ABC's Barbara Walters that she would, "look carefully at what I think I can do and make that decision sometime next year". She told ABC's Dianne Sawyer in June 2014 that she would, "be on the way to making a decision before the end of the year".
According to nationwide opinion polls in early 2015, Clinton was considered the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination in most polls. (A Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll in mid-August 2015 showed Senator Bernie Sanders with a 44-37 lead over her in the New Hampshire Primary). A CNN/ORC poll taken August 13-16, 2015, gives her a clear lead in the general election race despite growing concerns over her use of a personal email account while serving as Secretary of State. (When asked about the email matter, 56% said she "did something wrong" in the poll, up from 51% in March. 39% said she did not do anything wrong by using the personal email. Among Democrats, those saying she did not do anything wrong declined from 71% in March to 63% in August, and just 37% of independents said she did not do wrong by using the personal email system.)
Clinton has a very high name recognition of an estimated 99%. According to polling data, she has strong support from African-Americans, college-educated women, and single women. One New York Times op ed author wrote: "Not since Richard M. Nixon mounted a comeback in 1968, historians and pollsters say, has a candidate entered a presidential contest with so low a bar for name recognition or so high a bar for changing voter's opinions."
In mid-2014, Clinton released her book Hard Choices, which focuses on her time in public life, and went on a nationwide book tour promoting it. Many commentators saw the book tour as a pre-announcement campaign and a dry-run for a presidential campaign, noting that many stops were in small-book markets that happen to be located in swing-states and early-primary states.
Clinton campaign strategists are seeking to attract the same same voters who supported Barack Obama in his successful campaigns of 2008 and 2012. Professionals in marketing, such as Wendy Clark of Coca Cola, and Roy Spence of GSD&M, have been brought into the campaign to assist with "re-branding" Clinton. Thus far into the campaign however, she has been met with a confrontational media that has quizzed her on a number of controversies, including her use of a private email server, the acceptance of large speaking fees, and donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign donor. Clinton has frequently avoided answering, or has avoided directly answering questions from reporters on those issues.
The release of the book Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer on May 5, 2015, has been a challenge for the campaign. In the book, the author alleges impropriety in donations and speaking fees paid to Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the Clinton Foundation. Clinton campaign strategists obtained a copy of the book in late April, and selectively released chapters of the book to the media, seeking to lessen the impact of exclusive arrangements with The New York Times and The Washington Post made by the author. Opposition to the book's allegations were prepared and published on Medium, YouTube, and on the campaign website.
The Clinton campaign had planned for a delayed announcement, possibly as late as July, but later decided to advance that timeline due to publicity surrounding Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State. It was reported on April 10, 2015, that Clinton would make her official announcement on the following Sunday, April 12. Unlike her 2008 campaign announcement, (held at a high school in Iowa and attended by over 1,000 people), Clinton announced her 2016 campaign by video, rather than staging a large speaking event. She then traveled to early primary states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire during the following week. She was the third candidate with support in national polls to announce her candidacy, following Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, while Florida Senator Marco Rubio announced his candidacy on April 13, the day after Clinton. Clinton released the YouTube video formally announcing her candidacy via email at 3 p.m. EDT, on April 12, 2015. She stated that, "Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion."
Her campaign staff includes John Podesta as campaign chairman, Robby Mook as campaign manager, Joel Benenson as chief strategist and pollster, Jennifer Palmieri as communications director, Stephanie Hannon as chief technology officer, and Amanda Renteria as policy director. Longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin is the vice-chair of the campaign. Mook is the first openly gay manager, and Hannon is the first female chief technology officer, of a major presidential campaign.
Clinton began her campaign by making short trips to early primary and caucus states.Immediately following her announcement, she made a two-day road trip in a customized Chevrolet Express van, nicknamed after Scooby-Doo, going from New York to Iowa, and stopping several times along the way, including a stop at a Chipotle Mexican Grill outside Toledo, Ohio. The trip gained considerable media attention. Strategically, it was intended to showing a sense of humility, and a focus on the plight of middle class Americans, while at the same time countering attacks that she was wealthy and out-of-touch. The events she attended in Iowa, planned as meetings with small groups, were overshadowed by dozens of national and international members of the media trying to report on them.
Clinton responded to very few questions from the media during the first month of her campaign. During her visits to early primary and caucus states, she did not hold any formal press conferences, and did not participate in any media interviews. On May 19, 2015, she finally answered some questions from reporters at an event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She held her first major campaign rally June 13, 2015 at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City. The crowd size was less than anticipated. In her speech, Clinton spoke about income inequality in the United States. She endorsed universal pre-kindergarten, paid family leave, equal pay for women, college affordability, and incentives for companies that provide profit sharing to employees. She told the crowd:
"While many of you are working multiple jobs to make ends meet, you see the top twenty-five hedge-fund managers making more than all of America’s kindergarten teachers combined. And often paying a lower tax rate. So, you have to wonder, ‘When does my hard work pay off? When does my family get ahead? When?’ Prosperity can’t be just for C.E.O.s and hedge-fund managers. Democracy can’t be just for billionaires and corporations. Prosperity and democracy are part of your basic bargain, too. You brought our country back. Now it’s time—your time—to secure the gains and move ahead."
In August 2015, the Clinton campaign began a $2 million television advertising buy in Iowa and New Hampshire. The ads are intended to portray Clinton's commitment to women, family, and children.
On July 23, 2015, The New York Times reported the existence of a June 2015, memorandum to the Justice Department from the Inspectors General of the Intelligence Community and the State Department regarding the presence of classified government information in emails from the personal email account Hillary Clinton used as Secretary of State. A memorandum, written by State Dept. official Patrick F. Kennedy, said that, based on an assessment of a small sample of the contents of Mrs. Clinton’s private account by the two Inspectors General, it was likely that the entire body of emails contained hundreds of instances of classified information. The inspectors general said that classified information in the emails had originated from U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and the NSA, and that it is illegal for anyone to receive a classified document, or briefing, and then summarize or otherwise transmit that information in an unclassified email. Clinton and her campaign have said that the information transmitted was not classified "at the time", but this statement is disputed. The Department of Justice opened an investigation at the inspector general's request, asking that the FBI look into whether classified information could have been compromised because it was sent over unsecured networks. On August 12, 2015, Clinton agreed to turn over her personal email server and thumb drives containing copies of her e-mails to the FBI.
Clinton's Affiliated Super PACs include "Ready for Hillary", founded in January 2013, which raised more than $5.75 million and paid Clinton to rent the email list from her unsuccessful 2008 campaign. Priorities USA Action. focused mainly on high-dollar donors, as of May 2015, had raised about $15 million for Clinton. Correct the Record, a campaign of Democratic Super PAC American Bridge, has set up a rapid-response team which attempts to support positive information about Clinton posted on their website while issuing quick reactions challenging negative statements made about her on their website.
Following are some of the positions that Hillary Clinton has espoused on a number of issues:
Same-sex marriage: On April 28, 2015, Clinton issued a statement by means of Twitter, stating: "Every loving couple & family deserves to be recognized & treated equally under the law across our nation.- H." Some have criticized Clinton for her change of position on the issue, pointing out that in her 2008 presidential campaign, she was opposed to same-sex marriage, opting in favor of civil-unions instead.
Climate change: In a campaign speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 27, 2015, Clinton pledged to make climate change a major focus of her 2016 presidential campaign, saying the U.S. should take the lead on the issue. When asked by reporters, Clinton did not provide details on how she would pay for her clean-energy proposals, but said she would offer more specifics in the future. During the campaign, Clinton expressed support for Obama's Clean Power Plan (which aims to cut greenhouse-gas pollution by requiring states to regulate emissions from coal-burning power plants), calling it "a significant step forward in meeting the urgent threat of climate change." She pledged, if elected, to build upon the plan.
Keystone pipeline: In her Iowa speech, Clinton, although she had supported construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2012, she refused to take a position on whether the pipeline should be built now, saying that as Secretary of State, she had set in motion a review process a number of years ago to evaluate the pipeline, and would allow her successor John Kerry, and President Obama to make the decision. “I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started,” Clinton said, “and I think that we have to let it run its course.”
Foreign policy: Clinton has urged support for the international agreement with Iran on its nuclear program as the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. She claims credit for "twisting a lot of arms" as secretary of state to obtain the international economic sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table. Clinton said that as president, she would "do everything necessary to make sure the lid stays on" Iran's program.
Tax Code: Clinton has proposed a major rewriting of the U.S. Tax Code, in hew words "so it rewards hard work at home" rather than corporations "stashing profits overseas."
Income inequality: Clinton has proposed to address income inequality through a variety of ways, including paid family leave, equal pay for women, college affordability, and incentives for corporate profit-sharing with employees.
Women's issues: Clinton has been critical of those in Congress proposing to end government funding for services at Planned Parenthood. She has stated that policies important to women, including equal pay and abortion rights, will be central to her campaign.
Universal pre-kindergarten: Clinton has stated that she supports universal pre-kindergarten, but has not explained how her plan would be funded.
Voter supression: Clinton supports lawsuits against voting laws in Ohio and in Wisconsin. The petitioners seek to establish that such laws constitute voter suppression. On June 4, 2015, Clinton spoke on the subject at Texas Southern University, a historically black college, in Houston, Texas, calling for sweeping changes in national voter access laws, that would automatically register American citizens to vote at age 18, and would mandate 20 days of early voting in all states. She said that Republican efforts to limit voter registration have had a disproportionate impact on "people of color, poor people, and young people".
Legalization of marijuana: In 2014, Clinton said she is not supportive of the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes, saying she wants to "wait and see what the evidence is" before enacting a national policy. Later the same year, Clinton called marijuana a "gateway drug" and added "We need more evidence. And then we can proceed." Referring to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, Clinton said that "states are the laboratories of democracy. We have at least two states that are experimenting with that right now. I want to wait and see what the evidence is."