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Standing a few feet from Ms Mannlein-Hochman, Riki Harpers face darkens as she remembers the day in 2008 when Mrs Clinton admitted defeat.

The 39-year-old was in a noisy Florida restaurant and barely able to hear as Mrs Clinton conceded she was unable to break that highest, hardest glass ceiling that kept women from the White House.

"I just felt so lost," Mrs Harper remembers. "I wasn't for Obama then and I'm still not really now. I thought it was Hillary's time."

Some Hillary loyalists vented their anger by forming a group called PUMA (Party Unity My A**) and refusing to accept anyone but Mrs Clinton as their party leader. Others went out to actively campaign for John McCain in 2008.

Most, like Mrs Harper, grudgingly cast their ballots for Mr Obama, if only to keep Sarah Palin from becoming vice-president. But as they watched the current president lurch through crises at home and abroad, many returned to a persistent conclusion: Hillary would be doing this better.

Hillary Clinton addresses her supporters as her daughter Chelsea and her husband Bill Clinton watch in 2008 (AP)

Lee Calvert, a 51-year-old gay man wearing a teeshirt emblazoned with a Hillary H wrapped in a rainbow flag, said he felt Mrs Clinton would have been stronger on foreign policy than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

He sort of steps back and hes more professorial, Mr Calvert said. I think Hillary Clinton would have been more forceful.

Like many others in the crowd, he said Mrs Clinton would be an even stronger candidate in 2016 than she was in six years ago, brushing aside concerns about her age - 67 - or that her political skills had rusted over time. If she wants to run, its hers. The only thing that will stop her is herself.

Both he and his friend Mark Donahue, who wore a matching shirt, said they had donated to the Clinton campaign in 2008 and were prepared to do so again.

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Hillary Clinton's 2008 supporters see a second chance to make history