Hillary Clinton joins 2008 presidential race



By Ellen Wulfhorst
1 hour, 5 minutes ago



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.

In a message on her Web site, the former first lady, who aims to become the first woman elected U.S. president, wrote: "I'm in. And I'm in to win."

The second-term U.S. senator from New York is seen as the front-runner among five Democratic hopefuls, including Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), who is expected to be her main competitor within the party and whose bid could make him the first black president. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee, is another candidate.

Taking the first step toward becoming a candidate for her party's nomination, Clinton announced plans for a presidential exploratory committee, which allows her to raise money and hire staff.

Also on Saturday, Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), a favorite of religious and social conservatives, formally announced his bid for the White House. His candidacy is considered a long shot, overshadowed by Republican contenders Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Clinton, 59, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, took aim at 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.

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 for his administration.

In her posted written statement, Clinton hammered at what she called "six years of Bush administration failures."

OBAMA FACTOR

Clinton made history with her bid for the U.S. Senate in 2000, becoming the first former first lady to win one of the most powerful political jobs in the United States. She was re-elected by a huge margin to a second term in November.

Her announcement on Saturday 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.

Obama's candidacy has stoked enthusiasm among Democrats looking for an alternative to Clinton, who some fear could be too polarizing to defeat a Republican candidate next year.

Clinton enjoys the political benefits of her husband who, despite his scandal-hit 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."

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

She has since criticized the way the war has been run and said recently 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 that country.

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

The Internet's political influence has grown since Democrat Howard Dean rose from obscurity to temporary front-runner in the 2004 presidential primaries, due largely to contributions and support organized online.

Last week, commentator Arianna Huffington, whose Huffington Post Web site is one of the most widely read U.S. political blogs, invited candidates in the 2008 race to hold what would be the first online debate among presidential contenders.

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