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(CNN) —
Hillary Clinton put an end to months of speculation on Sunday by officially announcing her candidacy for president, giving the former secretary of state another shot at cracking the highest glass ceiling in American politics.
The initial word came in an email to supporters from John Podesta, a longtime Clinton ally, then a video launched on YouTube and a newly minted Facebook page.
“I’m getting ready to do something too. I’m running for president,” Clinton said in the video. “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion – so you can do more than just get by – you can get ahead. And stay ahead. Because when families are strong, America is strong. So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote, because it’s your time. And I hope you’ll join me on this journey.”
The video was shot last week, a campaign official told CNN. Clinton’s part was shot in New York with the rest of the video shot in places including Iowa and New Hampshire, a campaign official told CNN.
Clinton was at her home in New York for the launch of her campaign. She will be making some calls to top Democrats Sunday, as will her senior staff, according to a campaign official.
Following the video release, the Clinton campaign sent our a press release detailing her next steps.
“She’s committed to spending the next six to eight weeks in a ‘ramp up’ period where her team will start to build a nation-wide grassroots organization, and she will spend her time engaging directly with voters,” according to the release. “In May, once her supporters in all 50 states are organized for house parties or to watch over live streams, Hillary will hold her first rally and deliver the speech to kick off her campaign.”
She’ll travel to Monticello, Iowa on Tuesday before heading to Norwalk on Wednesday, according to a campaign aide.
Clinton’s second presidential run is another chapter in a life that has seen the former first lady go from a child raised in a conservative home outside Chicago to one of the most recognizable women in the world. Clinton became a household name in 1992 when her husband, Bill Clinton, won the presidency.
Since then, Hillary Clinton has become a force in her own right, serving in the Senate for eight years, unsuccessfully running for president in 2008 and leading the State Department from 2009 to 2013.
Over the coming months, Clinton’s campaign will plot how to reintroduce the former first lady – on her own terms – to the American people. Democrats close to Clinton have started to call her the most unknown famous person in the world. Their argument is that people know of Clinton – she has near 100% name recognition in most polls – but they don’t know her story.
Using small, controlled events with everyday people, the campaign will hone in on Clinton’s personal story, using themes such as her Midwestern upbringing, her mother’s perseverance in the face of neglectful parents and Clinton’s own time raising a daughter to cast the presidential hopeful in a more favorable, softer light than she was seen during much of her 2008 presidential run.
Clinton’s candidacy has been widely anticipated. Even since before Clinton left the State Department in early 2013, speculation that she would take another shot at the White House has followed her.
For her part, Clinton willingly teased those expectations for the better part of the last two years as she crisscrossed the country delivering paid speeches, selling her new memoir and stumping for Democrats during the 2014 midterm elections.Throughout all of it, Clinton was consistently peppered with questions about her presidential ambitions and plans for the future. She was reluctant to tease a bid in early 2014 – telling an audience in New Orleans that she wasn’t even thinking about a run – but grew less coy this year when she began to embrace the expectations around her.
A CNN/ORC International poll in March found that Clinton held a 50-point lead over her closest competitor, Vice President Joe Biden. What’s more, the three Democrats most actively teasing a presidential run – former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont – all received no more than 3% support among Democrats and independents that lean Democratic.
Clinton’s dominance in the polls – along with the work of a number of outside pro-Clinton organizations – has helped freeze the Democratic field. But a dozen or so Republicans may ultimately line up for the chance to take Clinton on.
Though she just announced her candidacy on Sunday, she is already surrounded by a sizable Democratic operation; Clinton has had around 30 people “volunteering” on her behalf in recent weeks.
Podesta, her anticipated campaign chairman, and Robby Mook, her expected campaign manager, began assembling a campaign apparatus this year, and a number of political operatives moved to New York in March and April to work for the nascent campaign. All of the new hires, however, have been considered volunteers until this point, meaning they have not been paid for weeks of work.
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The consigliere - John Podesta, one of the top liberal minds in politics, will serve as Clinton's campaign chairman. A former White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton and a top counselor for President Obama, Podesta has the stature to speak truth to power. His influential role in early structural and strategic decisions suggests that he will be a far more hands-on campaign chairman than most.
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The manager - Robby Mook impressed Clinton-land when he ran Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign to primary wins in Nevada, Ohio and Indiana, and again when he led Terry McAuliffe - a longtime Clinton friend and confidant - to the Virginia governor's mansion in 2013. The numbers-focused, Vermont-native has had his hand in hiring many of top campaign strategists this time around and is pushing Clinton's sharp focus on Iowa and New Hampshire.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The strategist - Joel Benenson started to work with Clinton in 2014, when the former secretary of state was mulling a run and piecing a staff together. The lead pollster for President Obama's winning campaign and re-election, who also worked on Bill Clinton's 1996 race, will be the top campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton. His firm is already starting to test themes and messages for this campaign.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The adman - Jim Margolis also once worked to defeat Hillary Clinton. Now, he is working with her. Margolis was a senior adviser to both President Barack Obama's successful campaigns and has worked with a number of senators, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Margolis will server as Clinton's top media adviser and ad maker.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The right-hand man - Marlon Marshall has long been Robby Mook's trusted right-hand man and is seen as a talented organizer and field director. He knows what went right -- and wrong -- during Hillary Clinton's first presidential race because he was there and will be in charge of making adjustments this time. He helped found the Democratic consulting firm 270 Strategies and during a stint at the White House was tasked with promoting Obamacare enrollment.
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Kris Connor/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The fundraiser - While Hillary Clinton mulled her presidential run, Dennis Cheng pulled double duty for a short time: Working as the chief development officer at The Clinton Foundation and starting to build a 2016 fundraising team. Cheng, who is credited with raising more than $248 million for the foundation since 2011, will fill the campaign's top finance post and take on the daunting task of fortifying what is expected to be a billion-dollar campaign.
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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The gate-keeper - Huma Abedin has worn many hats for Hillary Clinton - intern, "body woman," chief of staff - but the title that best describes her is gate keeper and confidant. No one without the last name Clinton is said to have a tighter relationship with the former secretary of state. Although her formal title in the 2016 campaign is not yet clear, she remains one of Clinton's most trusted personal aides.
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The wonk - As the campaign's top policy adviser, Jake Sullivan will look to navigate Clinton's campaign through complex issues, particularly on foreign policy matters like Iran. In 2011, Sullivan became the youngest director of policy in department history, an experience that earned him Clinton's implicit respect and trust.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The protector- Cheryl Mills is one of Hillary Clinton's closest, longest confidants. She was a top lawyer in the Clinton White House and served as Hillary Clinton's chief of staff at the State Department. She also is a member of the Clinton Foundation board of directors. While Mills isn't expected to hold a formal campaign role, she will continue to have something more important: Hillary Clinton's ear.
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Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The enforcer - Most journalists in Washington can remember the last time they got a nasty-gram from Philippe Reines and a simple Google search will lead you to a handful. The veteran of Capitol Hill and Clinton's senior adviser at State has been a part of Clinton's communication team for years and is expected to play a role in 2016. This time, however, it will be from the outside.
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Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The communicator - Jennifer Palmieri has a deep history with Democratic presidential elections and will serve as the campaign's communications director. A member of the team's senior staff, Palmieri is known for her cordial and direct relations with the press, dating back to her time in the first Clinton White House. She last served as President Obama's communications director, but left the White House in March to join the Clinton campaign.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The image maven - The job of retooling Hillary Clinton's image will fall primarily to Kristina Schake, a communications veteran whose background includes working for issue campaigns, multinational corporations and Hollywood stars. As Michelle Obama's communications director, Schake was credited with helping to turn the first lady into an everywoman known for dancing on national TV and touring colleges with her daughter.
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Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for HBO
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The brain - Neera Tanden is currently the head of the Center for American Progress. She's worked with Clinton since 1997, serving as a deputy campaign manager in the 2000 Senate campaign, her policy director in the Senate and during the 2008 presidential campaign. The two regularly talk and because CAP is a pro-Clinton research body, Tanden will continue to wield influence inside and outside the campaign.
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The institutionalist - Of all the people working on Clinton's 2016 campaign, Mandy Grunwald may know the Clintons the longest. Grunwald first worked for the Clintons in 1992, when she served as director of advertising on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. Grunwald has grown closer with Hillary Clinton through the years and guided her advertising on the 2008 campaign. This time, she will be one of the top strategists to shape her message.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The politico - Amanda Renteria, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2014 in Calfornia, will serve as Clinton's national political director. She was the first Latina chief of staff on Capitol Hill when she worked for Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2008.
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Amanda Renteria Campaign Office
Photos: Hillary Clinton's team
The techie - Stephanie Hannon left Google and her role as the company's director of product management for civic innovation and social impact to join the Clinton campaign. Hannon will oversee the implementation of Clinton's digital strategy, including both the strategic plans and technical side of building a website, apps and other web platforms for the campaign, most of which fell short to the Obama organization eight years ago.
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The team includes a handful of top aides and advisers from her 2008 run, but has intentionally drawn from new sources, including Democratic committees in Washington and, most notably, Obama’s presidential runs in 2008 and 2012.
Early states
Clinton’s top aides have already dispatched senior Democratic operatives to critical early states – namely Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Those hires are an attempt by Mook and others to signal that Clinton isn’t taking the nomination for granted this time around, a charge that many early voters andexperts leveled against her 2008 campaign.
“We are humble,” reads the memo, which was obtained by CNN from a Democrat in the room. “We take nothing for granted, we are never afraid to lose, we always outcompete and fight for every vote we can win. We know this campaign will be won on the ground, in states.”
Iowa’s most active Democrats, who watched Clinton finish in an abysmal third in 2008, couldn’t agree more.
“She kind of thought she was inevitable and her staff were going to tell us how to do things,” said Monica McCarthy, the former Union County Democratic Party chair and a Biden supporter in 2008. “Iowa, we are really spoiled, we are used to that pressing the flesh and talking to these people. We expect that.”
The Clinton campaign will start that process right after the Clinton video is released, according a Democrat with knowledge of the planning.
Clinton’s headquarters will be in Brooklyn, a culturally and economically diverse borough of New York City that the campaign will likely use as a backdrop for a message, it says, will focus on equality, inclusion and prosperity for all Americans.
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.
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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea.
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DONALD R. BROYLES/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985.
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A. Lynn/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President.
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Danny Johnston/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.
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LYNNE SLADKY/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
During the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton jokes with her husband's running mate, Al Gore, and Gore's wife, Tipper, aboard a campaign bus.
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STEPHAN SAVOIA/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997.
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KATHY WILLENS/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
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PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Brendan Smialowski/AP
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012.
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JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015.
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Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.
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Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America."
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you."
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@hillaryclinton/Twitter
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state.
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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
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Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight
After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president.
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The road to Clinton’s second presidential run has been far from flawless.
Democrats close to Clinton say the former first lady had preferred waiting until summer to make her presidential ambitions official and had a number of top aides discouraging her from getting into the race at all. But once Clinton decided to run, the start of 2015 – a period defined by multiple controversies around the former first family – crystallized for Clinton and her team why a campaign apparatus was critically needed.
Her family’s foundation, the Clinton Foundation, came under fire this year for not properly vetting foreign donations while Clinton was secretary of state. The controversy was a headache for Clinton aides and supporters who were caught somewhat flat-footed, and provided Republicans a tailor-made opportunity to charge the former first family with cronyism and selling access.
Clinton resigned from the foundation’s board on Sunday.
Emails
March found Clinton at the center of her own controversy over her exclusive use of private – rather than official – email during her time running the State Department. Republicans seized on the news and Clinton was forced to respond in a quickly organized press conference at the United Nations.
“With respect to any sort of future issues, I trust the American people to make their decisions about political and public matters,” Clinton said in response to a question about her presidential aspiration at the press conference. “I look forward to having a discussion about that.”
Republicans are near certain that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. On a surrogate call preparing Republicans for her announcement, Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee communications director, said that he felt Clinton losing the nomination was as likely as him “getting struck by lightning riding a unicorn.”
Republicans have been near solely focused on Clinton for more than a year, knocking the former secretary of state on different controversies and looking to cast her as an out-of-touch plutocrat unable to connect with the needs of everyday Americans.
Clinton’s recent controversies over the foundation and her emails have already featured prominently in attacks against her. After news broke on Friday that Clinton was announcing, the Republican National Committee spent more than $100,000 on a web ad that hits Clinton for her recent controversies. The ad is targeted at independent voters in Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina and Iowa.
Our attacks “ultimately have to lead to questions that Hillary can’t answer,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a longtime Clinton foil. “I think if we keep her in a situation where she can never do a press conference and she can never take questions, she shrinks. … I am pretty optimistic that she will shrink steadily throughout the next year.”
CNN’s Mark Preston, Jeff Zeleny and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.