Sarah Baxter
London
Times
Sunday, January 21, 2007
HILLARY CLINTON is to be presented as America’s Margaret
Thatcher as she tries to become the first woman to win the White
House. As she entered the 2008 presidential race yesterday, a
senior adviser said that her campaign would emphasise security,
defence and personal strengths reminiscent of the Iron Lady.
“Their policies are totally different but they are both
perceived as very tough,” said Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s
campaign chairman. “She is strong on foreign policy. People
have got to know you are going to keep them safe.”
Clinton, 59, used her website to announce that she was taking
the first step of her campaign by forming a presidential exploratory
committee. “I’m in. And I’m in to win,”
she said.
It made the New York senator the instant frontrunner for the
Democratic nomination. “She has the name recognition, the
money, the glitz, she’s got it all,” McAuliffe said.
If she wins, she will return to the White House where she spent
eight years as first lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency
from 1993-2001.
McAuliffe predicted a rough campaign. “She is going to
fight for herself and she is going to have people around her who
will fight,” he said.
“They are going to play mean, nasty and dirty on the other
side. You don’t walk into a knife fight without adequate
gloves.”
The Clinton campaign intends to paint the Republican nominee
as President George W Bush’s political heir, particularly
over the war in Iraq. “George Bush is going to be on the
ticket whether they like it or not,” McAuliffe added.
Clinton said she would talk to voters about “how to bring
the right end to the war in Iraq and restore respect for America
around the world”. She also hopes to appeal to women voters
in their twenties and thirties.
Clinton faces strong competition from Barack Obama, the charismatic
but inexperienced 45-year-old Illinois senator. The race is already
being billed “the magic v the machine”.
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