Hillary Clinton Enters 2008 Presidential Race

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton entered the 2008 U.S. presidential race on Saturday with a swipe at President George W. Bush as she capped years of speculation about her White House ambitions.

“I’m in. And I’m in to win,” said the former first lady who is aiming to become the first woman elected U.S. president.

The second-term U.S. senator from New York leads a pool of five Democratic hopefuls including Illinois Sen. Barack Obama who is expected to be her main competitor within the party and whose bid could make him the first black president.

Clinton promptly took aim at the the unpopular Republican she wants to replace in the White House when his second, and final, four-year term expires.

“After six years of George Bush it is time to renew the promise of America,” she said in a videotaped message on her Web site.

The wife of former President Bill Clinton made history with her bid for U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, becoming the first former first lady to win one of the most powerful political jobs in the United States.

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 took a first step toward becoming a candidate for her party’s nomination on Saturday by announcing plans for a presidential exploratory committee, which allows her to raise money and hire staff.

“I am not just starting a campaign though, I am beginning a conversation with you, with America,” she said.

Bush was elected to a second four-year term in 2004 but by law cannot run again. The unpopular war in Iraq has driven his job approval ratings to record lows.

In a preview of the campaign to come, Clinton hammered at what she called “six years of Bush administration failures.”

“I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine,” she wrote. “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 in the videotape.

OBAMA FACTOR

Her announcement came days after a similar move by Obama, who issued a statement calling her a “good friend and a colleague whom I greatly respect.”

“I welcome her and all the candidates, not as competitors, but as allies in the work of getting our country back on track,” he said.

Clinton enjoys the political benefits of her husband who, despite his scandal-ridden presidency, remains enormously popular and is a powerful fund-raiser, experts noted.

“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. “That’s an awful lot.”

While Clinton may want to target Republicans, she also must look at potential Democratic contenders who may gain on her, particularly Obama, said experts.

“The effect of Obama is a race for the fund-raisers and the seasoned campaign operatives,” said Douglas Muzzio, Baruch College professor of public affairs at The City University of New York.

“Obama at this point represents significant competition for that,” Muzzio said.

On her Web site, Clinton said she would launching a series of live, online video conversations with voters, on Monday.

Some Democrats object to her stance on the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which she voted to authorize in the U.S. Senate.

She has since criticized the way the war has been run and recently said she would introduce legislation capping U.S. troops in Iraq at the level before Bush’s planned increase of 21,500 additional U.S. troops in Iraq.