Two months after the soft launch of her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton is ready for her big-stage re-entry as a candidate with a speech in New York laying out her vision for America and her rationale for running.
A released
on Friday gave a taste of what to expect - a reminder of where she comes from
and of her journey as a someone who has fought for children's rights and
women's rights, and more generally someone with a middle-class background who,
though she is now powerful and rich, can still champion the cause of the
"everyday American".
But
since her last video in April, when she announced she was running, her approval
ratings have fallen and she's got company in the Democratic presidential field.
She's also road-tested her campaign machine, however.
After
a listening tour with dozens of small round-table events across the US and
private fund-raisers, Mrs. Clinton will hold a rally on New York's Roosevelt
Island - a not-so-subtle shout-out to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the boldest of
Democratic presidents, and the last time that Democrats held on to the White
House for more than two terms, albeit in exceptional circumstances.
A Clinton election
would be historic not only because she would be the first woman president of
the United States, it would achieve the rare feat of keeping the White House
within the same party for a third term. (Without endorsing any candidate,
President Barack Obama has made clear he will do everything he can to help make
that happen.)
But
these are not reasons to run, said Ellen Tauscher, a seven-term Democratic
member of Congress from California who went on to serve in Mrs Clinton's State
Department and is a strong supporter.
"Her
speech is an opportunity to present the strategic vision for her candidacy,
energising the millions who are already behind her, and pulling the base
together behind her," Tauscher says. "As always, I hope that she can
project the authentic Hillary and her commitment to serving all of the American
people once she is elected."
Widely covered
controversies over her use of private email server while at the State Department and the
possible conflict of interest from
the flow of cash to the Clinton Foundation from foreign donors have led to a
drop in Mrs Clinton's favourability ratings to below 50% - the lowest they've
been since her 2008 presidential campaign. Her critics say she's so far failed
to present a clear rational for why she is running and appears like royalty
awaiting coronation.
Her speech is a
chance to focus on the issues again and re-introduce herself to voters on the
national stage after four decades in the public eye - as first lady of
Arkansas, first lady of the United States, New York senator and secretary of
state.
Only
in the last role did she really emerge from the shadow of her husband, becoming
more Hillary number 1 than Clinton number 2. This is the image she will project
on stage on Saturday- her daughter Chelsea and husband Bill will appear
alongside her, but she will be the only one to speak.
Unlike
her husband, or Mr Obama, Mrs Clinton is not a natural, gifted orator and has
always shied away from lofty speeches, preferring more down-to-earth, practical
appeals based on a clear action plan.
Mrs
Clinton will not lay out all the specifics of her policy in Saturday's speech,
and she has yet to make decisions on the biggest policy questions, but she will
follow up on key issues with more events throughout the summer.
A
campaign aide told the BBC that Mrs Clinton spent the six months following the
November midterm elections speaking to policy experts on a number of key
issues, including college debt, equal pay and a crumbling infrastructure.
Campaign aides fanned out to look into ideas and find policy solutions,
delivering some 500 pages of memos for the former secretary of state to read.
After
launching her campaign in April, Mrs Clinton heard the other side of the story
- the voter's perspective - as she engaged in small round-table conversations
in key early-voting states.
She
was often pilloried in the media for the staged nature of the events, but the
soft launch allowed her to set the pace of her public exposure while getting
into the rhythm of the campaign, as her aides laid the foundation for the next
year and half of campaigning, including a methodical focus on grass-root
efforts across 50 states.
Over the last two months Mrs Clinton also set down policy markers on a number of domestic issues - such as immigration, crime and policing, voting rights and women equity pay - which have broad appeal but also target key demographics, such as Latinos, African-Americans and women.
One of Mrs Clinton's many challenges throughout the campaign, aside from the daunting task of raising more than $1bn (£640,000), will be to keep the base energised through a primary season that could appear to most as a pro-forma process. Her closest competitor, socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, polls 50 points behind her.
"We need to think about how this primary affects the energy of the base and how we sustain the excitement," says Tracy Sefl, who was senior advisor to the Ready for Hillary super-PAC that ran a grass-root effort across the country last year urging Mrs Clinton to run. She remains close to the Clinton campaign.
"We're still 18 months away (from election day)," she adds. But lack of excitement can have an impact on voter turnout in the general election, with consequences as well for the House and Senate races.
Many in the Democratic Party would have preferred there be no challenger, to avoid the costly primary season and pool all the energy and resources into countering the Republican Party.
Another close aide said a sense of inevitability would only hurt her as a candidate, however, so Mrs Clinton has been prompt to welcome the entry of rivals into the Democratic race and has agreed to participate in the six primary debates set by the Democratic National Committee.
In a note her campaign manager Robby Mook sent out, he pointedly describes the field as "competitive" and points out that 72% of Democrats and independents believe that the party is best served by a "robust" primary season.
For now, her speech will need to be robust enough to fire up her supporters.
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