Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton

According to whitehouse.gov, “Hillary Clinton was born on October 26, 1946 in Illinois. Hillary excelled as a child; she was a member of the National Honor Society and a student leader. Following undergraduate education, Hillary entered Yale Law School. Yale Law School is ranked first in the U.S. among law schools, and Hillary graduated first in her class. Shortly after completing her law degree, Senator Clinton married future President Bill Clinton. They both moved back to Bill’s home state of Arkansas where Hillary worked at the University of Arkansas Law School and the Rose Law Firm. After her husband became President, Hillary became the nation’s First Lady.” Compared to most first ladies, Hillary participated actively in government; she lobbied hard for legislation to help women and children. When Bill’s second presidential term was coming to a close, Hillary ran and won the New York Senate seat in 2000. She easily won re-election again in 2006. Shortly after her re-election, Senator Clinton has decided to run for president.

Presidential Campaign

Following John Kerry’s failed presidential attempt in 2004, many democrats felt Senator Clinton should be on the short list of candidates to run for president. When the 2008 presidential campaign began, Hillary was expected to easily win the democratic nomination. Many political insiders point to Clinton’s spectacular ability to raise money and attract women voters which they believe would make Clinton the early favorite. Early national polls showed Senator Clinton leading her closest democratic challengers by double digits. However, the Senator has recently faced extreme adversity that began with Senator Obama winning the Iowa primary. To date, Barack has pulled ahead in the delegate count. Yet, the race remains fairly close. If the superdelegates come into play, many speculate Senator Clinton would indeed win the nomination. However, this may no longer be the case considering many superdelegates originally pledging support for Senator Clinton have announced support for Senator Obama.

Prominent Endorsers

• Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both from Washington state.
• Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN).
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
• Robert Kennedy Jr.
• Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

Political ideology

Senator Clinton is known as a near, ultra-liberal democrat. She has very high interest group ratings among democratic interest groups such as the ACLU. Likewise, she has very low ratings among conservative interest groups such as the NRA.

On the Issues

• Pro-choice.
• Supports stem cell research.
• Supports most democratic economic policies, especially when it comes to public funding for education and the poor.
• Supports most affirmative action policies.
• Supports gay rights and civilian unions.
• Supports conservation and environmental efforts.
• Does not support drilling for oil in ANWR.
• Supports most laws in favor of giving all kids equal opportunities through government taxes.
• Voted yea in favor of SCHIP.
• Believes NAFTA was a mistake.
• Supports gun control.
• Senator Clinton has taken a mixed stance on illegal immigration. She tends to be in favor of some forms of amnesty, but she opposes Governor Spitzer’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
• Voted nay against making English the official language.
• Supports labor unions.
• Senator Clinton tends to be a hawk on foreign policy. Though Senator Clinton voted to authorize the Iraq War, she has since voted in favor of bringing troops home.