Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2008

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New York junior Senator and former First Lady

First Lady of the United States

First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

had expressed interest in the 2008 United States presidential election

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

since at least October 2002, drawing media speculation on whether she would become a candidate. No woman has ever won the nomination of a major party in the history of U.S. presidential elections.

On January 20, 2007, she announced that she was forming an exploratory committee

Exploratory Committee

In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to United States Presidential hopefuls, prior to the primaries.Exploratory...

and filed with the Federal Election Commission

Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...

to seek the nomination of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...

. Subsequently she began fundraising and campaigning activities. For several months Clinton led opinion polls among Democratic candidates by substantial margins until Senator Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

pulled close to or even with her. Clinton then regained her polling lead, winning many polls by double digits; by autumn 2007 she was leading all other Democratic candidates by wide margins in national polls. She placed third in the Iowa caucus

Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008

The Iowa Democratic Presidential Caucus occurred on January 3, 2008, and was the state caucuses of the Iowa Democratic Party. It was the first election for the Democrats of the 2008 presidential election. Also referred to as "the First in the Nation Caucus," it was the first election of the primary...

to Barack Obama and John Edwards

John Edwards

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

, and trailed considerably in polls shortly thereafter in New Hampshire before staging a comeback and finishing first in the primary there

New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 New Hampshire Democratic primary on January 8, 2008 was the first primary in the United States in 2008. Its purpose was to determine the number of delegates from New Hampshire that would represent a certain candidate at the National Convention. In a primary, members of a political party—in...

.

She went on to win a plurality of votes in Nevada, but won fewer delegates in Nevada than Obama, then lost by a large margin in South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. On Super Tuesday, Clinton won the most populous states such as California and New York, while Obama won more states total. The two gained a nearly equal number of delegates and a nearly equal share of the total popular vote. Clinton then lost the next eleven caucuses and primaries to Obama, and lost the overall delegate lead to him for the first time. On March 4, his consecutive wins increased to twelve when Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

went his way. After an increasingly aggressive round of campaigning, Clinton broke the string of losses with wins in the Rhode Island

Rhode Island Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Rhode Island Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008. It was an open primary. 21 delegates were awarded on a proportional basis. Rhode Island's delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention also included 11 superdelegates whose votes were not bound by the results of the...

, Ohio

Ohio Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Ohio Democratic primary took place on March 4, 2008 and was open to registered Democrats and Independents. Ohio sent 141 pledged delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, which were awarded to the candidates proportionally based on the outcome of the election. In addition,...

, and Texas

Texas Democratic primary and caucuses, 2008

The 2008 Texas Democratic primary and caucuses were a series of events to determine the delegates that the Texas Democratic Party sent to the 2008 Democratic National Convention...

primaries.

Clinton subsequently lost in Wyoming

Wyoming Democratic caucuses, 2008

The 2008 Wyoming Democratic caucuses were a series of events designed to determine the delegates that the Wyoming Democratic Party sent to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The party was allocated seven pledged delegates to presidential candidates on March 8 during the Wyoming Democratic...

, Mississippi

Mississippi Democratic primary, 2008

The Mississippi Democratic Presidential Primary took place on March 11, 2008, with 33 delegates at stake. The winner in each of Mississippi's four congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 22. Another 11 delegates were awarded to the statewide winner, Barack Obama...

, Montana

Montana Democratic primary, 2008

The Montana Democratic Presidential Primary took place on June 3, 2008, with 16 delegates at stake. Along with South Dakota, it was one of the last two elections in the 2008 Democratic Party Presidential Primary. The winner in Montana's at-large congressional district was awarded all of that...

, North Carolina

North Carolina Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina took place on May 6, 2008, one of the last primary elections in the long race for nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama won the primary....

and Oregon

Oregon Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Oregon Democratic primary was a mail-only primary in the U.S. state of Oregon. Ballots were mailed to registered Democratic voters between May 2 and May 6, 2008. To be counted, all ballots had to have been received by county elections offices by 8:00 p.m. PDT on May 20, 2008...

, and won in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Democratic primary in Pennsylvania was held on April 22 by the Pennsylvania Department of State in which voters chose their preference for the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Voters also chose the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's candidates for various...

, Indiana

Indiana Democratic primary, 2008

Clinton narrowly defeated Obama to win the primary.The Indiana Democratic Presidential Primary took place on May 6, 2008. It was an open primary with 72 delegates at stake. The winner in each of Indiana's nine congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 47....

, West Virginia

West Virginia Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 West Virginia Democratic primary took place on May 13, 2008 with polls closing at 7:30 p.m. EST. It was open to Democrats and Independents. The primary determined 28 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, who were awarded on a proportional basis. West Virginia's Democratic...

, Kentucky

Kentucky Democratic primary, 2008

The Kentucky Democratic Presidential Primary took place May 20, 2008, and had 51 delegates at stake. The winner in each of Kentucky's six congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 34. Another 17 delegates were awarded to the statewide winner, Hillary Rodham...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 Puerto Rico Democratic primary took place on June 1, 2008. It was an open primary. Puerto Rico initially planned to hold caucuses, as was done in 2000 and 2004, on June 7, 2008. In December 2007, an error in the plan was discovered; the caucus date should have read June 1, 2008. Puerto...

and South Dakota

South Dakota Democratic primary, 2008

The 2008 South Dakota Democratic primary took place on June 3, 2008. Along with Montana, it was one of the final two elections in the 2008 primary season...

. On the final day of primaries on June 3, 2008, Obama had gained enough pledged- and super-delegates to become the presumptive nominee

Presumptive nominee

In politics, the presumptive nominee is a political candidate who is all but assured of his or her party's nomination, but has not yet been formally nominated...

; she then suspended her campaign on June 7, 2008 and endorsed Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Pre-announcement events

In July 2005 the magazine Washington Monthly ran two side-by-side articles debating the pros and cons of a potential Clinton candidacy.

Announcement of candidacy

Clinton announced formation of her exploratory committee on January 20, 2007, with a post on her website. In a statement on her website, she left no doubt that she had decided to run: "I'm in. And I'm in to win." She filed the official paperwork for an exploratory committee.

Initial team

Clinton's campaign was run by a team of advisers and political operatives. Patti Solis Doyle

Patti Solis Doyle

Patti Solis Doyle is an American political operative and was in 2008 a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, where she was the campaign chief of staff to Joe Biden, Obama's vice presidential choice....

was the first female Hispanic to manage a presidential campaign, which she did from its inception. Deputy campaign manager Mike Henry had managed Tim Kaine

Tim Kaine

Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...

's successful campaign for Governor of Virginia in 2005 and coordinated the Democratic advertising efforts for the Senate elections of 2006. Mark Penn

Mark Penn

Mark J. Penn , is the worldwide CEO of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and president of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates. In September 2007, he released a book titled Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes, which examines small trends sweeping...

, CEO of PR

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

firm Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller is a global public relations and communications firm headquartered in the United States. Burson-Marsteller operates 67 wholly owned offices and 71 affiliate offices in 98 countries across six continents...

and president of polling company Penn, Schoen & Berland

Penn, Schoen & Berland

Penn, Schoen Berland is a market research, political polling and strategic consulting firm with American offices in New York, Washington, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco, and international offices in London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, and Delhi. The firm was founded in 1975...

was described as Clinton's "strategic genius" in a role likened to that which Karl Rove

Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

played in George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's campaigns. Howard Wolfson

Howard Wolfson

Howard Wolfson is counselor to the Mayor of New York City and a Democratic political strategist. He replaced Kevin Sheekey as Deputy Mayor of New York City for governmental affairs....

, a veteran of New York politics, served as the campaign spokesperson. Evelyn S. Lieberman

Evelyn S. Lieberman

Evelyn S. Lieberman is an American public affairs professional who, during the Clinton administration, became the first woman to serve as White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the first United States Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs...

, who worked for Clinton when she was First Lady and served as Deputy White House Chief of Staff, was the chief operating officer of the campaign. Ann Lewis

Ann Lewis

Ann Lewis is an American political advisor who was Senior Advisor for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She has served as the Director of Communications for HillPAC and Friends of Hillary 2005-2007 and from 1997–2000 as Director of Communications and then Counselor to Bill Clinton.Lewis is...

, White House communications director from 1997 to 2000, was Senior Advisor to the campaign. Cheryl Mills

Cheryl Mills

Cheryl D. Mills is an American lawyer, administrator, and corporate executive. She is most known for being deputy White House Counsel for President Bill Clinton, whom she defended during his 1999 impeachment trial. She worked for New York University as Senior Vice President...

was general counsel for the campaign. Jonathan Mantz was finance director, Mandy Grunwald

Mandy Grunwald

Mandy Grunwald is an American professional political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party.She is the daughter of the late Henry Grunwald, former editor-in-chief of Time magazine and the sister of the author Lisa Grunwald. She grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and on...

the lead media consultant, Neera Tanden the campaign's policy director, Kim Molstre the director of scheduling and long-term planning, Phil Singer the deputy communications director, Leecia Eve

Leecia Eve

Leecia Roberta Eve is an attorney in New York. A resident of Fort Washington, Maryland and former resident of Buffalo, NY, Eve is the daughter of former Assembly member Arthur Eve and was candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York during the 2006 election. She was a Senior Policy adviser to...

a senior policy advisor, Nathaniel Pearlman

Nathaniel Pearlman

Nathaniel Pearlman is an American political technology consultant aligned with the Democratic Party...

the chief technology officer, and Minyon Moore

Minyon Moore

Minyon Moore in Chicago, Illinois is a founder of America Coming Together, and heads Dewey Square Group's state and local practice...

a senior policy advisor. Other campaign workers also date from the "Hillaryland

Hillaryland

Hillaryland was the self-designated name of a group of core advisors to Hillary Rodham Clinton, when she was First Lady of the United States and again when, as United States Senator, she was one of the Democratic Party candidates for President in the 2008 election.The group included Huma Abedin,...

" team of the White House years.

Other advisers and supporters included former Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...

, Richard Holbrooke

Richard Holbrooke

Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment banker....

, Sandy Berger

Sandy Berger

Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger was United States National Security Advisor, under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. In his position, he helped to formulate the foreign policy of the Clinton Administration...

, Wesley Clark

Wesley Clark

Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...

, former Rep. and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....

, former Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley

Richard Riley

Richard Wilson Riley , American politician, was United States Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton and the 111th Governor of South Carolina. He is a member of the Democratic Party....

, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry

William Perry

William James Perry is an American businessman and engineer who was the United States Secretary of Defense from February 3, 1994, to January 23, 1997, under President Bill Clinton...

. Less well-known but key region and subject specialists were the focus of an intense recruiting battle between her and fellow candidate Barack Obama

Barack Obama

.

An October 2007 study of ongoing presidential campaign staffs showed that 8 of her 14 senior staff were women, as were 12 of her 20 top paid staff and 85 of her 161 nominally paid staff; overall she had the largest percentage of women in her campaign of any candidate surveyed other than Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee

Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...

February 2008 reorganization

On February 10, 2008, Solis Doyle ceased duties as campaign manager, and become a senior adviser, traveling with Clinton. Although Solis Doyle claimed the unanticipated length of the primary campaign led to her to resign the post, campaign insiders confirmed that she was ousted. Solis Doyle had survived three previous efforts to oust her.

Maggie Williams

Maggie Williams

Margaret "Maggie" Ann Williams is a partner in Griffin Williams, a management-consulting firm. She was the campaign manager for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. Following Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary in January 2008, Williams was brought onto the Clinton...

was appointed campaign manager; she had been Hillary's chief of staff at the White House. Williams had been brought in January on a thirty-day assignment as a senior advisor, and had demanded clarity in the chain of command with the authority to settle internal strategy and policy disputes, threatening to leave the campaign.
Within the next few days, Deputy Campaign Manager Mike Henry also stepped down, as did two top staff members for her web-based operations.
An two in-depth accounts by Joshua Green

Joshua Green

Joshua Green is an American journalist who writes primarily on United States politics. He is currently senior national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek and a weekly columnist for the Boston Globe.-Education:...

in The Atlantic, he attributed Solis Doyle's downfall to her failure to manage campaign spending, her inability to prevent factional disputes within the campaign, and her not recognizing Obama's candidacy as a serious threat earlier. Henry's departure was expected, as Solis Doyle had originally brought him in to the campaign.

April 2008 strategist change

Chief campaign strategist Mark Penn

Mark Penn

resigned on April 6, 2008, amid controversy surrounding his work with the Colombian government and the free trade bill opposed by many big unions. Clinton has remained firm in her opposition to the trade bill and has said she would vote against it. Penn resigned after news surfaced he had met with the Colombian ambassador, not as Clinton's adviser but as CEO of his P.R. firm, though he admitted the subject of the meeting was the trade bill. Penn was replaced with Geoff Garin

Geoff Garin

Geoff Garin is an American pollster, who served as chief strategist for Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign. He is president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates and has been an on-air analyst for CBS Radio's coverage of the national election returns for every election cycle since...

, a respected pollster, who became the chief strategist. He was slated to continue work for the campaign via his polling firm.

Fundraising

Methods and goals

In January 2007 Clinton announced that she would forgo public financing for both the primary and general elections due to the spending limits imposed when accepting the federal money. She had $14 million left from her 2006 Senate race, which put her in a good starting position compared to other Democratic candidates. Clinton insiders said the senator's goal is to raise at least $60 million in 2007. Longtime Democratic political and finance leader
Terry McAuliffe

Terry McAuliffe

Terence Richard "Terry" McAuliffe is a longtime leader and political advisor for the United States Democratic Party. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005. He served as Co-Chairman of President William Jefferson Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and also...

was Clinton's campaign chair.

HillRaisers

"Bundlers" he collected more than $100,000 for her campaign became known as "HillRaisers"; (a play on the expression hellraiser) and were asked to raise as much as $1 million each. Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

raised $2.5 million in a benefit concert for Clinton at Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

, on April 9.

By August 2007, there were 233 HillRaisers. They included Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Steven Rattner

Steven Rattner

Steven Lawrence Rattner is an American financier who served as the lead auto advisor in the United States Treasury Department under President Barack Obama...

, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine

Jon Corzine

Jon Stevens Corzine is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and of MF Global, and a one time American politician, who served as the 54th Governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. A Democrat, Corzine served five years of a six-year U.S. Senate term representing New Jersey before being elected Governor...

, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....

, John Grisham

John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...

, Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...

, Ronald Perelman

Ronald Perelman

Ronald Owen Perelman is an American business magnate. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.-Early...

, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell

Ed Rendell

Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...

, Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

and many others.

In late August 2007, HillRaiser Norman Hsu

Norman Hsu

Norman Yung Yuen Hsu , born October 1951, is a convicted pyramid investment promoter who associated himself with the apparel industry. His business activities were intertwined with his role as a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party, and he gained notoriety after suspicious patterns of bundled...

came into considerable negative publicity when it was revealed that he was a 15-year-long fugitive

Fugitive

A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...

on investment fraud charges and had also possibly engaged in violations of campaign finance law as a "bundler".

Results

On April 1, 2007, Clinton announced she had raised $26 million during the preceding three months, along with an additional transfer of $10 million from her Senate campaign account to her presidential account. This dwarfed the previous record for the comparable quarter, which was $9 million by Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

in 1999.

For the second quarter of 2007, Clinton raised about $27 million, less than Obama's newly set records for the quarter of $32.5 million in donations from 258,000 contributors but more than all other candidates. According to the Center for Responsive Politics

Center for Responsive Politics

The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...

, during the first six months of the year, about 70% of her funds came from donors giving the maximum $2,300; this compared to 44% for Obama and 42% for Edwards.

For the third quarter of 2007, which typically sees lower numbers than the rest of the year, Clinton led all candidates with $27 million raised and with 100,000 new contributors. This beat Obama's $20 million and allowed Clinton to apportion some of the amount for an expected general election race rather than the primary season.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, Clinton raised approximately $20 million, bringing her total for the year to more than $100 million. This equaled the amount raised by Obama in the quarter, and was also similar to what Republican fundraising surprise Ron Paul

Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...

garnered during the quarter.

During January 2008, Clinton raised $13.5 million. This paled in comparison to Obama's $32 million for the same month, and Clinton was forced to loan her campaign $5 million from her and Bill Clinton's personal assets. Further, Clinton's campaign ended January with $7.6 million in debt, aside from the personal loan. Rebounding from weak fundraising in January 2008, Sen. Clinton expected to raise $35 million in February 2008—a figure rival Sen. Barack Obama

Barack Obama

's campaign said it would surpass. On March 6, 2008 it was revealed that Senator Obama raised a record $55 million dollars in February, what the Associated Press reported as the largest amount of funds raised in one month in the history of Presidential primaries.

In April, it was revealed that the Clinton campaign began the month $1 million in debt. While the campaign had $20 million cash on hand, only $9 million was available for the primary and the campaign had $10 million in debt. Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson acknowledged the debt, but noted that "The money continues to come in strongly" and that the campaign would be paying off the debts.

Clinton left the race with $22.5 million in debt, at least $11.4 million of which came from her own pocket.

By the conclusion of the election cycle in November 2008, Clinton's campaign was severely in debt; she owed millions of dollars to outside vendors and wrote off the $13 million that she lent it herself. She continued to raise funds, although her January 2009 confirmation as U.S. Secretary of State limited her abilities to do so. During the first quarter of 2009, a surprisingly large $5.6 million came into her campaign, enabling her to pay off all creditors other than her pollster Mark Penn

Mark Penn

, to whom the campaign still owed $2.3 million.

Campaign finance irregularities

Norman Hsu

was a businessman with a background in the apparel industry. By 2007 he was a prominent fundraiser for the Clinton campaign, having achieved HillRaiser status, having co-hosted a $1 million fundraiser at wealthy Democratic Party supporter Ron Burkle's Beverly Hills estate, and having been scheduled to co-host a major gala fundraising event featuring music legend Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

.

On August 28, 2007, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

reported that Hsu may have engaged in improper actions during the collection of "bundled" campaign contribution. The Clinton campaign rose to Hsu's defense, saying "Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

The next day, on August 29, The Los Angeles Times reported that Hsu was a longtime fugitive, having failed to appear for sentencing for a 1992 fraud conviction. The Clinton campaign reversed course, saying it would give to charity the $23,000 that Hsu personally contributed to her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election and her political action committee. The campaign said it did not plan to give away funds that Hsu had collected from other donors.

Although Hsu had donated to other Democratic candidates, scrutiny was focused on the Clinton campaign, with mainstream press reports asking why the campaign had been unable to take steps to discover Hsu's past. and speculating that opponents would liken developments to the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy

1996 United States campaign finance controversy

The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, also known as Chinagate, was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics during the 1996 federal elections....

. Some in the conservative media took a harsher tone, with WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from a U.S. conservative perspective. It was founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power" and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.-History:In...

founder Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah

-External links:* Official website* *...

stating that Hillary Clinton should be arrested by the FBI. Clinton said the Hsu revelations were “a big surprise to everybody.” She added that, “When you have as many contributors as I’m fortunate enough to have, we do the very best job we can based on the information available to us to make appropriate vetting decisions.”

On September 5, Hsu failed to appear for a court hearing and became a fugitive again. The Clinton campaign said, “We believe that Mr. Hsu, like any individual who has obligations before the court, should be meeting them, and he should do so now.” Hsu was recaptured less than 48 hours later.

By September 10, newspaper reports indicated that the FBI was looking into the legitimacy of an investment pool that Hsu had been running at the time of his large-scale contributing. Moreover, Irvine

Irvine, California

Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

businessman Jack Cassidy said he had, as early as June 2007, tried to warn authorities and the Clinton campaign that Hsu was running an illicit enterprise, and that both officials and the Clinton campaign had been non-responsive. A California Democratic Party

California Democratic Party

The California Democratic Party is the state branch of the Democratic Party in the state of California, headquartered in Sacramento. It is chaired by veteran Democratic politician and former United States Representative John L. Burton, who succeeded Art Torres in April 2009. It is the majority...

query at the time in June was responded to by the Clinton campaign's western finance director: "I can tell you with 100 certainty that Norman Hsu is not involved in a ponzi scheme. He is completely legit." The campaign later said it had further looked at Hsu's public records at the time, but that no problems had emerged.

Later on September 10, the Clinton campaign announced it would return the full $850,000 in donations that Hsu had raised from others: "In light of recent events and allegations that Mr. Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign. An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign." In doing so, the Clinton camp set a precedent for how campaigns should deal with potential "bundling" scandals. The campaign also announced it would put into place tougher procedures for vetting major contributors, including running criminal background check

Background check

A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....

s. Hsu-raised bundles had also gone to Clinton's political action committee

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

and to her 2006 Senate re-election campaign

New York United States Senate election, 2006

The 2006 United States Senate election in New York was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for and would win a second term representing New York in the United States Senate...

; Clinton officials were undecided regarding what to do with those funds.

In the following days, campaign strategists were worried that the Hsu matter had the potential to become a major fundraising scandal that could significantly damage the campaign. Nevertheless, the campaign indicated that it would try to get donations re-given right after the refunds, for example taking back donations if they clearly came from the donor's bank account rather than from Hsu or another third party and if the donor swears the money is their own. Clinton herself affirmed this position: "I believe that the vast majority of those two-hundred-plus donors are perfectly capable of making up their own minds."

The political watchdog organization Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch is an organization that describes itself as "a conservative, non-partisan American educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law." According to its mission statement, Judicial Watch "advocates high standards of...

said it would try to get the U.S. Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the Hsu matter. Clinton aides stressed that Hsu had never received favorable treatment from her: "The Senate office had no official contact with him, and undertook no actions on his behalf." Clinton herself called the whole affair "a rude awakening to all of us," meaning other campaigns as well.

By October 2007 the Hsu matter had quieted down. Clinton's third quarter campaign expenditures report showed the $800,000 in contributions, mostly Hsu-related, being returned to more than 200 donors, some of whom were surprised to see the money coming back and who said they knew not of Hsu.

In March 2007 a Pakistani immigrant named Abdul Rehman Jinnah was indicted by a grand jury for violating federal election laws. The charges stem from $30,000 in illegal contributions to Clinton's presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton's campaign "denied any knowledge of Jinnah's scheme."

In September 2007, reports were made that William Danielczyk, private equity

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

firm head, bundled money for Clinton from Republican Party supporters, including at least one who claimed that Danielczyk later reimbursed her, a charge Danielczyk denied. The Clinton campaign returned that donation, and said: "These allegations are troubling and we will again ask each of the individuals solicited by Mr. Danielczyk to affirm that their contributions were given with their own funds."

In October 2007, an article in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

stated that, "Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000." . The Times further stated, "At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. Those dishwashers, waiters and street stall hawkers are part of the reason. And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins." . The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

reported similar findings. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

editorialized that reports such as these appear "to be another instance in which a Clinton campaign's zeal for campaign cash overwhelms its judgment," comparing it to the 1996 Clinton-Gore finance controversy

1996 United States campaign finance controversy

of her husband.

In December 2007, the Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (Sri Lanka)

The Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order is the Sri Lankan government ministry responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces....

and the Canada Free Press reported that one of Clinton's fundraisers in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, a U.S. resident who was associated with a December 12 fundraising event at the State Theatre

State Theatre, New Brunswick

Birth Date: December 26, 1921Age: 90 yrsArchitect: Thomas W. LambCapacity: 1800Location: 15 Livingston Ave New Brunswick, NJ 08901President & CEO: Mark W...

in New Brunswick

New Brunswick, New Jersey

New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

, was also a fundraiser for the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, which the U.S. government has determined is a front organization

Front organization

A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...

for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...

, which is on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

"Foreign Terrorist Organization" is a designation of non-United States-based organizations declared terrorist by the United States Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act...

. In February 2008, Hillary Clinton's foreign policy adviser, Andrew Shapiro, announced that the Clinton campaign had returned the T.R.O. donations after complaints of impropriety given the outlawed T.R.O.'s terrorist links

A February 13, 2008 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

article stated (with regard to mailing lists) that "Last year, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took the unusual step of renting out some of her lists." The Clinton campaign responded "that the lists were rented out by her 2006 Senate campaign committee — and that the rentals took place before she began her formal campaign for president last January." Of this response NPR commented, "That would mean the rental fees went unpaid for at least 11 months. Starke, the analyst, cites Info U.S.A.

InfoUSA

Infogroup, Inc., is a data, research and marketing company which offers email marketing and other marketing services. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Papillion, Nebraska. Infogroup employs approximately 3,200 people and operates in 9 countries.- History :Infogroup was formed in...

data showing that on average, it settles accounts within 64 days."

Delegate count

Media coverage

An October 29, 2007 study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism

Project for Excellence in Journalism

The Project for Excellence in Journalism is a non-profit research organization in the US that uses empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press. It asserts that it is "non partisan, non ideological and non political"...

and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy found that Clinton had received the most media coverage of any of the 2008 presidential candidates, being the subject of 17 percent of all stories. The study found that 27 percent of the stories had a favorable tone towards her, 38 percent had an unfavorable tone, with the balance neutral.

A November 12, 2007 assessment by Michael Crowley

Michael Crowley

Michael Crowley is a senior correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief for . From 2000 to 2010 he was a writer for The New Republic. His work has also been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, GQ, New York and Slate. Michael Crichton allegedly based a minor character on him in his...

of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

of relations between the Clinton campaign and the press found that regarding published stories, "the Clinton media machine [is] hyper-vigilant [and that] that no detail or editorial spin is too minor to draw a rebuke." The Clinton camp was also reported to engage in retribution regarding stories they did not like, complaining to reporters' editors or withholding access in other areas: "Even seasoned political journalists describe reporting on Hillary as a torturous experience." In spite of this, Crowley measured the press corps as giving Clinton "strikingly positive coverage".

By December 2007, the Clinton campaign charged that Obama's campaign was getting much more favorable media treatment than their own, especially once their campaign began faltering. Washington Post media analyst Howard Kurtz

Howard Kurtz

Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...

found a number of journalists who agreed with the claim, with Mark Halperin

Mark Halperin

Mark E. Halperin is the senior political analyst for Time magazine, Time.com, and MSNBC and serves as a board member on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. He is the co-author of Game Change.-Personal:Mark Halperin is the son of Morton Halperin and Ina Young. He has...

, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine's editor-at-large for political news, saying, "Your typical reporter has a thinly disguised preference that Barack Obama be the nominee. The narrative of him beating her is better than her beating him, in part because she's a Clinton and in part because he's a young African American. ... There's no one rooting for her to come back."

After Clinton's loss in Iowa and in the run-up to her apparent loss in New Hampshire and campaign collapse to come, negative media coverage of her became intense; as The Politico

The Politico

The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...

phrased it in retrospect, "She is carrying the burden of 16 years of contentious relations between the Clintons and the news media. ... Many journalists rushed with unseemly haste to the narrative about the fall of the Clinton machine. Meanwhile, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

anchor Brian Williams

Brian Williams

Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...

conceded that at least one NBC reporter said regarding Obama, "it's hard to stay objective covering this guy."

Media Matters

Media Matters for America

Media Matters for America is a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Set up as a 501 non-profit organization, MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and...

singled out MSNBC

MSNBC

MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

's Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...

for his consistently harsh coverage of Clinton. During the primaries, and especially after the Iowa caucuses, Matthews was openly enthusiastic about Obama's candidacy. The New Republic

The New Republic

The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...

reported that Matthews was "swooning" over Obama in the days leading up to the January 8 New Hampshire Democratic primary. On the night of that election, Matthews co-anchored MSNBC's coverage. Air America Radio

Air America Radio

Air America was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk programming...

host Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Anne Maddow is an American television host and political commentator. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio...

and political analyst Patrick Buchanan both noted the high turnout among women, and asserted that the media coverage made Clinton a sympathetic figure to female voters. Buchanan stated that the media had "virtually canonized" Obama and behaved as if he'd been "born in Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

." Maddow told Matthews that several blogs were citing him as "a symbol of what the mainstream media has done to Hillary Clinton." She added that sites such as TalkingPointsMemo.com

Talking Points Memo

Talking Points Memo is a web-based political journalism organization created and run by Josh Marshall, journalist and historian covering issues from a "politically left perspective,". It debuted on November 12, 2000...

indicated that voters felt that the media were "piling on" Clinton, and were "coming to her defense with their votes." Matthews replied sarcastically, "My influence in American politics looms over the people. I'm overwhelmed myself." He added, "I will never underestimate Hillary Clinton again." The next day, Matthews appeared on Joe Scarborough

Joe Scarborough

Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough is an American cable news and talk radio host, lawyer, author, and former politician. He is currently the host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, and previously hosted Scarborough Country on the same channel...

's MSNBC morning show and said, "Let's not forget...the reason she's a U.S. Senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a frontrunner, is that her husband messed around". While this incited more controversy, Matthews noted that Clinton's political career started after she appeared with Senator Chuck Schumer and impressed Democratic leaders with her graceful handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "I thought it was an unexceptional statement," he said. These comments, among others, have led Media Matters to launch a campaign against him and his remarks.

In a January 14 New York Times/CBS News

CBS News

CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

poll, 51 percent of Democratic primary voters thought the media had been harder on Clinton than on the other candidates (with women especially thinking so), while 12 percent thought the media had been harder on Obama.

Measurements in late January by the University of Navarra

University of Navarra

The University of Navarra is a private pontifical university based at the southeast border of Pamplona, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei as a corporate work of the apostolate of Opus Dei....

indicated that Clinton and Obama were receiving roughly equal amounts of global media attention, once Obama won the Iowa caucuses.

On February 8, Clinton's Communications Director Howard Wolfson Clinton criticized MSNBC

MSNBC

MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

's correspondent David Shuster

David Shuster

David Martin Shuster is an American television journalist who has been an anchor for MSNBC and who has also worked for Fox News and CNN. He anchored MSNBC Live weekdays from 10-11am and 3-4pm ET and filled in for Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow on their respective shows...

"for suggesting the Clinton campaign had 'pimped out' 27-year old Chelsea

Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea Victoria Clinton is a television journalist, currently serving as Special Correspondent for NBC News, and philanthropist, working through the Clinton Global Initiative. She is the only child of former U.S...

by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party 'superdelegates' on her mother's behalf." Shuster apologized "on the air" and was temporarily suspended from the network. Wolfson argued that this was part of a "a pattern of tasteless comments by MSNBC anchors about the Clinton campaign" and suggested that Clinton's participation in the scheduled, MSNBC-sponsored Cleveland debate could be jeopardized. The Clinton campaign agreed to continue with the debate after the apology was offered. In a February 12 interview with Chris Plante on WMAL-AM, "former President Bill Clinton implied the media has been unfair to his wife, stated that she was standing up to sexism when she took on NBC, and -- when asked about MSNBC's David Shuster's comments about his daughter, Chelsea -- said there was a double standard." Other critics have also argued that this incident is part of a larger pattern of "sexist coverage."

Clinton has gotten an ironic supporter in conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

. Limbaugh executed a plan for the listeners of Limbaugh's radio program to vote for Clinton in their states' respective primaries. Limbaugh started his Operation Chaos in order to "politically bloody up Barack Obama". This was known as "Rush the Vote" among the "Drive-by Media", a derogatory term used by Limbaugh when referencing the mainstream media, of which he does not consider himself to be a part. Though, Limbaugh wasn't supporting Clinton in hopes she would win the presidency, rather wanting to help divide the Democratic Party, so they wouldn't be well organized when the general election came.

Gender

Although Clinton was the 25th woman to run for U.S. president, she was the first female candidate to have held a highly probable chance of winning the nomination of a major party, and the presidential election. As such, remarks surrounding her gender and appearance have come to the fore.
In March 2006, actress and sex symbol Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone

Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...

expressed her doubt about Clinton's presidential chances, saying "Hillary still has sexual power, and I don't think people will accept that. It's too threatening." On a similar note, on August 9, 2006, the sculpture The Presidential Bust of Hillary Rodham Clinton: The First Woman President of the United States of America was unveiled at the Museum of Sex

Museum of Sex

The Museum of Sex, also known as MoSex, is a sex museum located at 233 Fifth Avenue near 27th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It opened on October 5, 2002.-History:...

in New York and attracted attention for its named focus; sculptor Daniel Edwards

Daniel Edwards

Daniel Edwards is an American sculptor whose pieces address celebrity and popular culture in ways that have often stirred controversy. The release of the pieces is generally accompanied by press releases...

hopes it will spark discussion about sex, politics and celebrity.

In October 2006, Clinton's then-New York Senate race opponent, John Spencer

John Spencer (politician)

John Spencer is the former Mayor of Yonkers, New York . He was the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from New York and lost to incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.-Early life, military service and education:...

, was reported to have commented on how much better Clinton looked now compared to in the 1970s, and speculated that she had cosmetic surgery. On the other hand, syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin

Mark Levin

Mark Reed Levin is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese...

never mentions her name without appending a sneering "Her Thighness" to it.

In her Senate career, Senator Clinton is often seen wearing a suit. However, twice in 2006, Clinton was criticized by National Review Online editor Kathryn Jean Lopez

Kathryn Jean Lopez

Kathryn Jean Lopez, is an American conservative columnist who is nationally syndicated by the United Feature Syndicate.She is also the editor of National Review Online...

for showing cleavage

Cleavage (breasts)

Cleavage, anatomically known as the intramammary cleft, is the space between a woman's breasts lying over the sternum. Cleavage is exposed by a garment with a low neckline, such as ball gowns, evening gowns, swimwear, casual tops and other garments....

while speaking in the Senate. Lopez implored Clinton to be more modest. The Washington Post revisited this question based on a new incident in July 2007, which provoked a widespread round of media self-criticism about whether it was a legitimate topic or not; the Clinton campaign then used claimed outrage at the reporting for fundraising purposes.

By the time the campaign was in full force in December 2007, acclaimed American communications studies professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is an American Professor of Communication and the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania...

observed that there was a large amount of misogyny

Misogyny

Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...

present about Clinton on the Internet, up to and including Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

and other sites devoted to depictions reducing Clinton to sexual humiliation. She also said that "We know that there's language to condemn female speech that doesn't exist for male speech. We call women's speech shrill and strident. And Hillary Clinton's laugh was being described as a cackle," making reference to a flurry of media coverage two months prior about the physical nature and political motivation of her aural indication of amusement.

Use against Clinton of the "bitch" epithet flourished during the campaign, especially on the Internet but via conventional media as well. Hundreds of YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

videos carried the word, with such titles as "Hillary Clinton: The Bitch is Back" and "Hillary Clinton: Crazy Bitch", and a Facebook

Facebook

groups with the theme proliferated, including one named "Life's a Bitch, Why Vote for One?" that had more than 1,500 members. Broadcaster Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck

Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...

used the term in describing her. In a November 2007 public appearance, John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

was asked by one of his supporters, "How do we beat the bitch?" (McCain responded by saying, "May I give the translation?" and then went on to say he respected Clinton but could defeat her.) A February 2008 Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

monologue by Tina Fey

Tina Fey

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...

led a backlash-through-embracing movement, when she said "I think what bothers me the most is when people say that Hillary is a bitch. Let me say something about that. Yeah, she is. And so am I.… You know what? Bitches get stuff done.… Get on board. Bitch is the new black!" A new Facebook group "Bitch is the new Black" gained three times the membership of all the anti-Clinton groups named after the word.

Along this theme, PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

commentator Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...

noted that MSNBC

MSNBC

MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

commentator Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson is an American political news correspondent and conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel...

had said of Clinton, "There's just something about her that feels castrating, overbearing, and scary," and that top-rated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

continued to refer to her as "the woman with the testicle lockbox." During the campaign, Carlson made repeated statements of the form "When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs." Further discussion ensued when the Drudge Report
Drudge Report
The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...

and a few other media outlets ran an unflattering Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

photograph of Clinton looking old and tired on the wintry Iowa campaign trail; Limbaugh sympathized with the plight of American women in an appearance-obsessed culture, then asked, “Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?”

Following Clinton's "choked up moment" in New Hampshire and surprise victory there the following day, discussion of gender's role in the campaign moved front and center. Women following the campaign recalled a series of criticisms of Clinton, such as the pitch of her voice, a debate moderator's question of whether she was "likeable" (and Obama's reply that she was "likeable enough", felt by some to be condescending), and hecklers' demands that she "iron their shirt", as motivations for re-examining who they would support in the contest. Columnist Meghan Daum

Meghan Daum

Meghan Daum is an American author, essayist, and journalist. Although she was born in California, Daum grew up primarily in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University.Daum spent much of her twenties in...

of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

wrote that the "likeability" issue was inextricably associated with gender, as Clinton's "stridency can grate even on those who agree with her ideas" and that "she is visibly salivating from hunger. That may be OK for male candidates, whose appetites tend to be selling points. But if there's anything that's drilled into women's heads before we're old enough to even ask for something, it's the importance of playing hard to get, of pretending we don't want anything at all."

Later in January 2008, Clinton backed out of a cover photo shoot with Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

over concerns by the Clinton camp that she would appear "too feminine," which prompted the magazine's editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour, OBE is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and sunglasses, Wintour has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for...

, to write, "Imagine my amazement, then, when I learned that Hillary Clinton, our only female presidential hopeful, had decided to steer clear of our pages at this point in her campaign for fear of looking too feminine. The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying. How has our culture come to this? How is it that The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

recoils from the slightest hint of cleavage on a senator? This is America, not Saudi Arabia. It's also 2008: Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

may have looked terrific in a blue power suit, but that was 20 years ago. I do think Americans have moved on from the power-suit mentality, which served as a bridge for a generation of women to reach boardrooms filled with men. Political campaigns that do not recognize this are making a serious misjudgment."

Sarah Palin comparison

Following the nomination of Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

for the vice presidency at the Republican National Convention, Palin and Clinton were compared and contrasted with one another in the media, due to their status as women running in the 2008 presidential election. A New York Times article stated, "Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Palin have little in common beyond their breakout performances at the conventions and the soap opera aspects of their family lives. Mrs. Clinton always faces high expectations; Mrs. Palin faced low expectations this week, and benefited from them. Mrs. Clinton can seem harsh when she goes on the attack; Mrs. Palin has shown a knack for attacking without seeming nasty. Mrs. Clinton has a lot of experience; Ms. Palin, not so much. Mrs. Clinton is pantsuits; Mrs. Palin is skirts." Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton's campaign, said it was "insulting" for Republicans to compare Palin to Clinton. A Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

skit, "A Nonpartisan Message From Governor Sarah Palin & Senator Hillary Clinton", counterposed Palin, played by Tina Fey

Tina Fey

, against Hillary Clinton, played by Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler

Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...

. Fey presented Palin as a dimwit unable to understand global politics, as emphasized by the line: "I can see Russia from my house." Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and McCain advisor Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina is an American business executive and a former Republican candidate for the United States Senate representing California. Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff,...

blasted that one of the Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin

Saturday Night Live parodies of Sarah Palin

The sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live aired several sketches parodying then Alaskan Governor and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in the lead-up to the 2008 United States presidential election. The sketches featured former cast member Tina Fey, who returned as a guest star to...

in a television interview: "They were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive and Sarah Palin as totally superficial," and an ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

headline soon after ran, "Now the McCain Campaign's Complaining that Saturday Night Live Skit Was 'Sexist'". However, Palin stated that she found the skit amusing.

"Hillary is missing in action from the Palin--hating brigade", opines a writer at the Weekly Standard. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton referred to Palin's VP nomination as "historic," stating, ""We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination

Nomination

Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award.In the context of elections for public office, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally said to be the nominee of that party...

, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain...While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate." Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin

Tammy Baldwin

Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, serving since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In September 2011, Baldwin announced she would be a candidate in the 2012 U.S...

expressed a different view: "To the extent that this choice represents an effort to court supporters of Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy, McCain misjudges the reasons so many voters rallied around her candidacy. It was Senator Clinton's experience, skill and commitment to change, especially in the areas of health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

and energy policy

Energy policy

Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity has decided to address issues of energy development including energy production, distribution and consumption...

, that drew such strong support. Sarah Palin's opposition to Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...

and her support of big oil will not draw Democrats from the Obama

Barack Obama

-Biden

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...

ticket." President of the National Organization for Women

National Organization for Women

The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...

(NOW) Kim Gandy said "What McCain does not understand is that women supported Hillary Clinton not just because she was a woman, but because she was a champion on their issues. They will surely not find Sarah Palin to be an advocate for women."

In mid September 2008, a flurry of articles circulated announcing that "Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin plan to appear next week at the same rally in New York City – perhaps the closest the two history-making women will be to each other before Election Day." However, Clinton pulled out of her scheduled appearance at the rally protesting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when she found out Palin would also be there. "Clinton decided not to attend because she did not want to take part in a "partisan political event," her aide said. Soon after, organizers of the rally in New York withdrew their invitation to Palin.

Opinion polling

External links

Official Campaign website

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Pre-announcement events

Announcement of candidacy

Initial team

February 2008 reorganization

April 2008 strategist change

Fundraising

Methods and goals

HillRaisers

Results

Campaign finance irregularities

Delegate count

Media coverage

Gender

Sarah Palin comparison

Opinion polling

See also

External links