Strengths and weaknesses of Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House

As Hillary Clinton launches her 2016 campaign for the US presidency, she opens another chapter in a political life that already spans more than two decades. Here is a rundown of the strengths that will help her win the Democratic nomination and the weaknesses she must overcome in her bid for the White House.

Strengths

1) She's the heavy (heavy) favourite

Leading Democrats insist they do not want a primary season that is a mere "coronation" of Mrs Clinton. Keen to dispel the air of inevitability that hangs over her campaign, her advisers have stressed that she is taking nothing for granted and will fight for every vote. But the facts are the facts - Mrs Clinton holds a huge advantage in early polling. An average of recent polls from Real Clear Politics shows her with a near 50-point lead over her closest Democratic rival, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, and Ms Warren has said repeatedly she is not going to run.

Polling numbers for likely contenders for the nomination, such as Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor, and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, hover between 1 and 5 per cent.

Respected blog FiveThirtyEight Politics had perhaps the most apt summary: "Clinton's primary campaign is by far the most dominant for a non-incumbent president since nominations began to be determined by caucuses and primaries in 1972."

2) There is no Barack Obama waiting in the wings

As things stand now, it is difficult to see any of Mrs Clinton's rivals for the nomination mounting the kind of Barack Obama-style surge that swept her candidacy aside last time.

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At this point of the race in 2007, both Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama were polling at between 20 and 40 per cent nationally, and Mr Obama had begun to compete evenly with Mrs Clinton in terms of raising money. None of Mrs Clinton's challengers will be able to match the grassroots operation her "Ready for Hillary" political action committee has built over the past two years, signing up 4m supporters.

3) She has an unrivalled fundraising machine behind her

Success in US presidential politics is as much about fundraising as it is about ideology - witness the fierce scrap for donors that has already broken out among potential contenders for the Republican nomination, such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Texas senator Ted Cruz and Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin.

With no strong challenger on the horizon, Mrs Clinton's team will have the luxury of focusing on building a robust network of small donors first, rather than wooing the wealthy at high-priced events, to begin amassing her war chest.

A veritable army of Democratic bundlers, super fundraisers who package together donations, are poised to spring into action the moment her campaign is launched, while major donors to the party are expected to announce their own large commitments. Several have already described her announcement as "opening the floodgates" in terms of fundraising.

4) She lost in 2008

Mrs Clinton has only to look to her devastating loss to Mr Obama seven years ago to remind herself that she will need to do things differently this time. That campaign was plagued by infighting, dysfunction and the sense that it was more about Mrs Clinton's personal ambition than the aspirations of American voters.

A leaked memo from her soon-to-be campaign manager Robby Mook on Saturday rams home the mistakes made in 2008, and the message a rebranded Mrs Clinton plans to take on the trail: "This campaign is not about Hillary Clinton and not about us - it's about the everyday Americans who are trying to build a better life for themselves and their families."

Weaknesses

1) Her popularity is slipping

Mrs Clinton's popularity has dipped markedly in recent months, following revelations that she used a personal email account to conduct government business during her time as Secretary of State and questions over the propriety of foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, the family's charitable organisation.

A recent poll from Washington Post-ABC news shows the number of Americans who hold a favourable opinion of Mrs Clinton has dropped to 49 per cent, the first time it has dropped below 50 per cent since April 2008 and down from a high of 67 per cent when she left her position as Secretary of State in 2013. It is a decline that has worried Team Clinton, who know that they will need to overcome trust and likeability issues with voters.

2) Iowans are unpredictable

That Mrs Clinton is likely to travel first to Iowa after Sunday's announcement is a sign of how seriously she will take her campaign in the early battleground state.

Mr Obama's stunning victory in the Hawkeye state in 2008 ultimately derailed Mrs Clinton's first bid for the White House, and her team has worked hard to improve her standing with rank-and-file Democrats, as well as the dozens of local political operatives that hold sway across its 99 counties.

But Iowans are unpredictable and they relish their role as the first state in the country to weigh in on the presidential race. Even if Mrs Clinton mounts an aggressive campaign, a challenger such as Mr O'Malley could potentially catch fire in Iowa much the same way Mr Obama did in 2008, generating national momentum.

3) Real and imagined scandals will rumble on

After more than two decades in the public eye, Mrs Clinton is no stranger to scandal, both the real and serious kind, and the kind Republican pundits will hammer her over daily in the coming months.

Her use of a personal email account during her time at the Department of State is now being examined, while a probe into the administration's response to a deadly attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 continues, with Mrs Clinton being called to testify again on Capitol Hill.

Some advisers express scepticism that even the best-funded opposition researchers will be able to dig up fresh dirt on Mrs Clinton or her husband, former president Bill Clinton, given the sheer longevity of their political lives and the scandals they have already overcome.

But Republican strategists have singled out the Clinton Foundation, in particular, and its record of accepting large donations from foreign billionaires and corporations, as a rich seam.

4) The dynasty questions

Bill Clinton served two terms as president, between 1992 and 2000. One of Mrs Clinton's main potential rivals, Jeb Bush, is both the brother and son of former presidents.

Should either win in 2016, then by the time he or she completed their second term the US would have had a Bush or a Clinton in the White House for 36 of the previous 44 years.

Political strategists not involved with her campaign say that, above all, Mrs Clinton needs to articulate a clear vision of why she wants to be president over the coming months to build excitement about her candidacy and to overcome voter weariness with a two-family dynasty.

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