Biography
Hillary Rodham Clinton was born on Oct. 26, 1947 and experienced the classic middle-class upbringing in middle America that came to define the post-World War II era. Her family lived in a quiet Chicago suburb where her father ran a small draperies business. She now lives in Chappaqua, N.Y.
Clinton attended Wellesley College, where for a time she served as campus president of the Young Republicans. She majored in political science and was selected to deliver the commencement speech in 1969 a stirring address that quickly put her on the map.
She then went on to Yale Law School, where she became an advocate for neglected children and met the man who would change her life: a charming young man from Arkansas named Bill Clinton.
After getting her law degree, she became a staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund and also served on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee considering the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
She later moved to Arkansas, where her husband was launching a political career, first as attorney general and later as governor.
Clinton continued her advocacy for children in Arkansas and became an influential lawyer, taking on such issues as sexual harassment and equal pay for women.
In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States, and his wife took on a very public role in policy namely the failed attempt in 1994 to reform the nation's health care system.
She also figured into one of the biggest sex scandals in American history when her husband was impeached after having an affair with a White House intern.
Clinton set her sights on her own political career as her husband's second term in the White House drew to a close. She ran for the U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, despite having virtually no connection to the state.
She embarked on a statewide "listening tour" and easily defeated a Long Island congressman to win.
She won re-election in a landslide in 2006, and announced her candidacy for president in January 2007 exactly two years before Inauguration Day.
The Clintons have one daughter.
Profile
Clinton has lived a double political life of sorts. Her father was a staunch Republican and a Barry Goldwater supporter who instilled his conservative beliefs in his daughter. She was a "Goldwater Girl" and active on the campus Republican scene at Wellesley.
Her shift to the Democratic party may have had its roots in that rousing commencement speech at Wellesley in 1969. The act she had to follow was Republican Sen. Edward Brooke, who spoke against "coercive protest." Clinton later wrote that she waited in vain during the speech for some mention of the pain and soul-searching of the time — Vietnam and the Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations.
"Every protest, every dissent," she said, challenging Brooke by name, "is unabashedly an attempt to forge an identity in this particular age." The speech was such a sensation that she was featured in Life magazine.
If that speech was a life-changing event for Clinton, another one came a year later when she met her future husband at the Yale Law School library.
They married five years later, and she was soon the first lady of Arkansas. It was during her Arkansas years that she took on an even more prominent role in advocating for health care, women and neglected children, providing a glimpse of what was to come in the ensuing decades.
She also became entangled in what would later become a constant distraction. The Clintons formed a company with a businessman named Jim McDougal to buy land on the White River, a tangled scheme that resulted in a years long investigation by a White House special counsel.
When Bill Clinton ran for the White House in 1992, his wife was an important part of the campaign. When he was elected, she was an even bigger part of the White House.
In 1994, she took the lead role in trying to overhaul the American health care system, but the effort unraveled in disastrous fashion. It was among the darkest times of the Clinton administration, but she still refers to the "scars" from that episode in insisting that she is a stronger presidential candidate because of it.
She also had the distinction of being married to the man who was impeached over an affair with a White House intern.
As she tells it in her 2003 autobiography, "Living History," she faced the two toughest decisions of her life in her 50s. One was to stay married to Bill. The other was to run for U.S. Senate.
She made her first run for elective office in 2000, in the most unlikely of spots: New York. She was labeled a "carpetbagger" and had to fend off a daily barrage of attacks from Republicans who viewed her as public enemy No. 1.
But she prevailed against GOP Rep. Rick Lazio after a tireless campaign where she went on a statewide "listening tour."
Two moments will mark Clinton's first term as senator: Sept. 11 and Iraq.
As senator from the state that was attacked on Sept. 11, Clinton played a crucial role in the response and helped land federal aid to the state. She was lauded by even Republicans for her effort.
The next year, she voted to authorize military force in Iraq, a decision that has hurt her during her presidential run.
Clinton won re-election in a landslide in 2006, facing a weak Republican field that had nowhere near the firepower to compete with a politician of her magnitude. Within three months, she became an official candidate for president.
Her attempt to become America's first woman president has not been an easy one.
She has faced a strong challenge from Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. She has at times come across as too scripted, too mechanical, too heavily influenced by her advisers. She struggled mightily during a Democratic debate when asked about the New York governor's plan to give licenses to illegal immigrants.
She has given her husband a greater role as the primary season draws nearer, hoping some of that famous Clinton charm will pay dividends the way it has done so many times before.
Campaigns
Hillary Rodham Clinton powered to victory in New Hampshire's Democratic primary Tuesday, January 8, 2008, in a startling upset, defeating Sen. Barack Obama and resurrecting her bid for the White House. Her victory, after Obama won the Iowa caucuses, raised the possibility of a prolonged battle for the party nomination between the most viable black candidate in history and the former first lady, seeking to become the first woman to occupy the Oval Office.
Clinton was the only top contender on the Democratic ballot in Michigan's presidential primary Tuesday, January 15, 2008. With most precincts counted, she had 56 percent of the vote to 39 percent for uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Clinton gained support from about 51 percent of caucus-goers on Saturday, January 19, 2008, in the Nevada caucuses, beating Obama. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12.
Obama routed Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday, January 26, 2008. She was the Democratic winner in the Florida Democratic primary on January 28, 2008, held in defiance of national rules that drew no campaigning and awarded no delegates. On Feb. 5, 2008, Clinton and Obama were separated by 40 delegates, with several hundred yet to be allocated. Overall, that left Clinton with 1,024, halfway to the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. Obama was right behind with 933.
Clinton lost the Louisiana primary Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. Nearly complete Louisiana returns showed Obama with 57 percent of the vote, to 36 percent for Clinton. She lost the Washington state caucuses Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. Clinton lost the Nebraska caucuses to Obama Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. Clinton lost the Maine presidential caucuses to Obama Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008. Clinton lost primaries Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008, in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia to Obama.
Clinton lost the Wisconsin primary and Hawaii caucuses to Obama on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. She scored three victories Tuesday, March 4, 2008, in a night of revival that denied Obama a ripe opportunity to drive her from the Democratic presidential race. Clinton won the big races in Ohio and Texas, as well as Rhode Island, to break her costly losing streak. But Obama came away with a large share of delegates, too, in counting that continued Wednesday, March 5, meaning he's got a lead that's tough to overcome.
Obama won in Vermont. He also captured the Wyoming Democratic caucuses March 8. Clinton lost Mississippi's Democratic primary to Obama on March 11.
Clinton declared her White House candidacy in January 2007. She was seated on a couch, her right arm casually draped over a pillow. She spoke of energy independence, an end to the war in Iraq and, yes, health care for all Americans.
"Let the conversation begin," she said. "I have a feeling it's going to be very interesting."
The declaration came just months after she won re-election in a race that was never close. She won with 67 percent of the vote. She raised almost $40 million for the race and had about $14 million left over at the end.
Her first Senate run in 2000 was more of a challenge. At the time, Rudy Giuliani was the mayor of New York City who held a slight lead in the polls over the then-first lady as they geared up for their history-making Senate race showdown.
But Giuliani was diagnosed with prostate cancer, saw his marriage fall apart in public fashion, and dropped out of the race. Clinton went on to defeat Rep. Rick Lazio in November.
Source: AP
