By Nia-Malika Henderson, Senior Political Reporter
Updated
11:06 AM EDT, Wed April 15, 2015
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Story highlights
Hillary Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics
Republicans hope the gender play backfires and that voters are fatigued by identity politics
The emphasis on women as a possible campaign theme is a reversal of her 2008 strategy
(CNN) —
It’s the mistake that Hillary Clinton won’t make again: ignoring her gender.
The low-key video she released on Sunday announcing her run for the White House is filled with women – young, old, black, white, Asian and Latina – working in their gardens, taking care of their kids and getting ready for life in the working world.
Clinton, who made herself the center of her campaign announcement in 2007, is barely in the video at all, appearing at the end as a kind of everywoman whose story and fight could be folded in with all the others.
“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.”
Clinton often says there’s no better time in history to be born female than the present. She’s now betting that there is no better time for her to make history as the nation’s first woman president.
The challenge for Clinton in breaking the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” that she described in 2008 is laying out a precise campaign vision that connects with all voters, while generating excitement and anticipation over the possibility of making history.
’Leaning in’
Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics.
There are historic numbers of women in Congress, and the idea of “leaning in” is a catch phrase among professional women. Meanwhile, the feminism label doesn’t seem as charged as it once was – people from Beyonce to actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are identifying as feminist.
“As far as the political culture and culture in general, this is as good a time as any for a women to run for the highest office. There is a willingness now to promote pro-women messages,” said Jennifer Lawless, who runs the Women & Politics Institute at American University. “People are ready for a woman president. The question is this: Are they ready for Hillary as that woman?”
According to a recent Pew poll, nearly three quarters of Americans expect to see a woman president in their lifetime. But that hope splits along partisan – not gender – lines. Only 20% of Republican women hope to see a woman president and nearly 70% of Democratic women do.
In the run-up to her announcement and at women-centered events, Clinton sometimes strode on stage to the song “I’m Every Woman,” and recalled how she juggled work and motherhood as a young lawyer. She has acknowledged a double standard for women and advised women to be tough.
She has also frequently mentioned her granddaughter, Charlotte, as the reason she wants to remain in public life, a theme that will no doubt be heard on the campaign trail as she kicks off a tour in Iowa this week with small events. She made pushing for the expansion of the rights of women and girls part of her diplomatic work as secretary of state, as detailed in her book “Hard Choices.”
Her new campaign website is plastered with pictures of women, with Clinton, in a blue cloth coat, holding a cup of coffee listening intently to another woman as a man looks on.
The emphasis on women – and the progress of women – as a possible underlying campaign theme is a reversal of her 2008 strategy, which stressed experience and competence over history. But the problem with that approach was that avoiding the obvious wasn’t possible and didn’t make for good politics.
Gender card
“She is the gender card. She doesn’t need to play it because she embodies it. She is the woman candidate. She has shared women’s experiences. Being a mom and a grandmother,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “She will just naturally bring it in. If she overplayed it, which she won’t, it could backfire.”
Republicans certainly hope the gender play backfires and that voters are fatigued by the kind of identity politics that have defined the Obama years. The Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s president, put it this way at the group’s recent annual meeting: “Eight years of one demographically symbolic president is enough.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn acknowledged that many women would like to see a female president in their lifetime but said she didn’t think it would be Clinton.
“There’s a couple of things there. Trust, honesty – those get in her way,” Blackburn said. “As we talk about the polling that is out there, that gets in Hillary’s way and she’s not authentic.”
In 2014, Democratic candidates such as former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall proved that the “war on women” style of campaigning that worked so well in 2012 had reached its limits. Udall lost that race and picked up the nickname “Mark Uterus” along the way for his incessant focus on women’s issues.
And Democrats found that in states such as Texas, Kentucky and Georgia, white married women and white working class women tended to prefer Republicans.
Katie Packer Gage, who has been talking to women in focus groups about Clinton’s run, said that to many women, the “idea of Hillary is more popular than the reality.”
’A typical politician’
“She starts out having some benefits of gender because she is something different, but then starts to feel like a typical politician and gets back down to earth,” said Packer Gage, who runs Burning Glass Consulting, a firm that coaches Republicans on appealing to women voters. “You do see her starting to frame her campaign as a campaign for women, but that’s a narrow campaign, not a winning campaign. You aren’t going to win 100% of women.”
Among Republicans, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina might mount a challenge to Clinton and try to neutralize some of the former first lady’s strengths as the lone woman in a field dominated by men.
Fiorina released a Facebook video Sunday in which she said Clinton was a “highly intelligent woman” but doesn’t have a track record of accomplishment or trustworthiness.
“She’s not the woman for the White House,” Fiorina said.
And among Democrats, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb could jump in and be the champion for the white working man, a demographic that he has said is left out of the Democrat’s increasingly diverse tent. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who launched his presidential campaign last week, has noted that the Clinton Foundation took money from foreign countries who oppress women, suggesting that the pro-woman framing won’t be an easy sell.
But Clinton will have some high-profile champions.
Moments after her announcement, top Democrats rolled out endorsements, including Barbara Mikulski, the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right.
“Whoopee, Hillary is off and running,” she wrote in a statement. “I’m ready for Hillary. And America is ready for Hillary. She is going to break that glass ceiling once and for all.”
At a recent EMILY’s List event before announcing her run, Clinton asked her supporters: “Don’t you someday want to see a woman president?”
In that particular crowd the answering was a resounding yes.
But it’s unlikely that the same question will make it in her campaign speeches. After all, the answer across the country is much more complicated.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.