Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois as Hillary Diane Rodham) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

Possible presidential bid

Clinton has expressed interest in the 2008 presidential race http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/27/content_285278.htm. The last female candidate for a major national office was Walter Mondale's Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Mondale and Ferraro lost in a landslide against Ronald Reagan in 1984. Clinton has an established national image that makes her possible candidacy in 2008 a popular and controversial topic among media pundits, bloggers, and the public at large. For example, in July 2005 the magazine Washington Monthly ran two side-by-side articles, one thinking that she could win the presidency and one thinking that she could not http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0507.cannon.html http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0507.sullivan1.html. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted on May 26, 2005, when asked the likelihood of voting for Senator Clinton for president, 29 percent of respondents were very likely, 24 percent were somewhat likely, 7 percent were not very likely, and 39 percent were not at all likely. In June 2003, in a similar poll, the numbers had been 21 percent very likely, 21 percent somewhat likely, 12 percent not very likely, and 44 percent not at all likely. In May, 2005, 55 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Senator Clinton, while 39 percent held an unfavorable view of her http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/26/hillary.clinton/index.html. These findings were similar to the June 2003 poll that found 53 percent reacted favorably toward her and 41 percent unfavorably, with the undecided/no opinion bloc representing only 6% of those polled.

Related Topics:
2008 - Walter Mondale - Vice Presidential - Geraldine Ferraro - Landslide - Ronald Reagan - 1984 - 2008 - Bloggers - Washington Monthly - CNN - USA Today - Gallup - 2005 - 2003

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Following the 2004 election cycle, Clinton began what some saw as a movement to the political center by supporting health care reform with Contract with America architect and former adversary Newt Gingrich. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--clinton-gingrich0721jul21,0,7550602.story

Related Topics:
2004 - Center - Contract with America - Newt Gingrich

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The alignment represents for both a reconciliation with the past, for it was Gingrich that helped defeat Clinton's health care plan in the early 1990s. Clinton's January, 2005, speech on abortion quoted above was viewed by some as part of her alleged move to the center. Liberal media watchdog Media Matters has offered evidence that Clinton's positions have remained consistent with her past http://mediamatters.org/items/200501260014 http://mediamatters.org/items/200502020002. In August, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Clinton was positioning herself as a centrist http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hillary8aug08,0,1894074.story?coll=la-home-nation; critics http://independentsources.com/2005/08/08/los-angeles-times-hillary-a-moderate-independent-sources-not-so-fast/ cited her Senate voting record as proof that was not the case.

Related Topics:
2005 - Quoted above - Liberal - Media Matters

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In February 2005, associates of Republican political consultant Arthur Finkelstein announced he would be forming a PAC entitled Stop Her Now with the stated goal, "to shed light on the REAL Hillary Clinton and the danger she and her ideas pose for America."

Related Topics:
2005 - Arthur Finkelstein - PAC

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