Hillary Clinton to announce 2016 presidential bid this weekend
WASHINGTON Former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will end months of speculation and attempt a second bid at becoming America's first woman president when she launches her highly anticipated 2016 presidential campaign on Sunday.
Clinton, the former secretary of state who lost the 2008 nomination to Barack Obama, will skip a flashy kickoff rally in favor of conversations with voters about the economic needs of middle class families and the next generation.
Clinton appears unlikely to face a formidable primary opponent, though a handful of lower-profile Democrats have said they are considering campaigns. Some liberals have tried to lure Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the race, but she has rejected the idea.
Should she win the nomination, Clinton would face the winner of a Republican primary field that could feature as many as two dozen candidates. They could include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother and son of former presidents, and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who is expected to announce his campaign in Miami on Monday.
The first official word of Clinton's candidacy will come in a video posted on social media and to supporters online, according to two people familiar with her plans. She will then turn to crucial early-voting primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, looking to connect directly with voters in small, intimate settings.
The people familiar with her plans spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Clinton has offered glimpses in recent speeches of why she will again seek the White House. Another preview came Friday in the epilogue to the paperback version of her 2014 book, "Hard Choices."
"Becoming a grandmother has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as stewards of the world we inherit and will one day pass on," Clinton writes in the new chapter, according to a preview published by The Huffington Post. "Rather than make me want to slow down, it has spurred me to speed up."
The Sunday announcement will mark Clinton's formal return to politics following a two-year leave from government.
Kicking off her campaign with straight-up retail politics, where she can talk to voters one-on-one, would be a departure from how Clinton jumped into her first presidential campaign. In 2007, Clinton also launched with a video, but followed it with a large, boisterous rally in Des Moines: "I'm running for president, and I'm in it to win it."
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Hillary Clinton to announce 2016 presidential bid this weekend