"Today, I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for the president. And I want you to join me not just for campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country—about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures”. This is the opening text of an article on Hillary’s website in an article captioned “I’m in. And I’m in to win”.

Senator Hillary Clinton, 59 is the wife of former U.S president Bill Clinton. The formation of exploratory committees (to test popularity) usually precedes formal announcement to run for public office. Observers believe Hillary did make her intention at this moment in order to take some spotlight off fellow Democratic Party Senator Barak Obama who had recently announced the formation of his own exploratory committee.

Apart from being the wife of a former president, Hillary is a career woman and a seasoned politician in her own right.

She received her law degree from Yale law school in 1973 and taught law at the University of Arkansas Law School (1974-1979). She got married to Bill Clinton (who was also teaching law in the same school) in 1975. She practiced law at the Rose Law firm in Little Rock Arkansas between 1977-1992. In 1993 Hillary was appointed to head the presidential task force on health care reform. Conservative forces in the U.S. congress could not allow the reforms to be implemented. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal that rocked her husband’s presidency and put their marriage to test, Hillary behaved in a very composed and matured manner. She stayed loyal to her husband under circumstances that should have prompted some women to part ways. There is no doubt that this exemplary behavior must have contributed in part to her being elected senator in November 2000.

Hillary Clinton is indeed a leading presidential contender for the Democratic Party. All polls featured on the website PollingReport.com for the past one year show Hillary leading by double digits over her possible rivals like Barak Obama, John Edwards, Al Gore and John Kerry. Recent polls in January 2007 still show that she maintains the same lead over Barak Obama.

Observers of the current American political scene believe that unless some positive dramatic event happens in the Republican Party camp, the presidency is likely going to Democrats come 2008. The Neo-cons of the Republican Party have squandered most of the goodwill they had at the beginning of the Bush presidency principally because of the Iraqi adventure. If we reason along these lines, it will imply that the real presidential race will be fought within the Democratic Party camp. As things stand now Hillary Clinton seems to be steps ahead of others in the race to the White House.

Sounding confident, Hillary continued, “I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine. After nearly $70 million spent against my campaign in New York and two landslide wins, I can say I know how Washington Republicans think, how they operate and how to beat them.”

If she does beat them, she will become America’s first female president and the first spouse of an ex-president to become president in America.