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Washington No more speculation Hillary Rodham Clinton is in. And this time, people close to her presidential campaign say, shes taking nothing for granted.

Hanging over Mrs. Clintons 2016 enterprise will be her shocking failure to win the Democratic nomination in 2008, when she got smoked by a flashy young upstart named Barack Obama. The former first ladys inevitability proved to be a mirage, both because of then-Senator Obamas superior skills as a candidate and mistakes by her campaign.

Here are some key ways in which Clintons 2016 campaign will be different:

She will run as a woman. So ... she ran as a man last time? No, but she didnt highlight womens issues or the fact that she would be the first woman president even as an integral part of President Obamas narrative centered on race and the historic nature of his own candidacy. This time, Clinton aides make clear, she will be all over equality issues and womens rights, both in the United States and globally.

As secretary of State, Clinton put womens issues front and center. And she is putting her status as a mother and now a grandmother to a baby girl -- to political use. In an updated epilogue to her latest memoir, Hard Choices, Clinton writes extensively of her own experiences as a new mother to Chelsea and then the wonders of grandparenthood, linking baby Charlotte to the wider world and its future.

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.

Rather than make me want to slow down, it has spurred me to speed up, she adds, a suggestion that the title grandma doesnt make her old.

She will have a different team (sort of) and a different strategy. Exhibit A is that Mark Penn, the divisive chief strategist and pollster of Clintons 2008 campaign, will be nowhere near her 2016 campaign. Robby Mook, a young star in Clintons 2008 campaign, will be her 2016 campaign manager, and Joel Benenson, Obamas pollster, will be her top strategist. John Podesta, a former top adviser to both Presidents Clinton and Obama, will chair her campaign. In Mr. Podesta, Clinton will have someone who is almost a peer and can offer unvarnished and critical counsel, a role that went unfilled in 2008, writes Dan Balz of The Washington Post.

Just as important, her aides say, she will approach her campaign as if she faces a competitive nomination process even though she does not, so far. She is getting organized in early primary and caucus states. Theres still plenty of time for a major Democratic challenger to get in (Elizabeth Warren, anyone?), and even if Senator Warren is highly unlikely to jump in, Clinton isnt taking any chances. You can also bet that Clinton operatives will know all the obscure delegation-accumulation rules in early states, an area where she fell down last time.

Even if Clinton coasts to the nomination, she will face a tough general election fight next year. Shell need to get in shape for that. That means wooing voters in important swing states from Day One.

Excerpt from:
Hillary Clinton 2016: How this presidential campaign will be different