Kent Babb - The 2016 Contenders--Hillary Clinton

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Hillary Clinton in her own words: Her take on womens rights, Benghazi and more

Presidential candidates are a breed apart, often propelled by traits that have shaped their careers and have deep roots in their personal histories.

Time and again a candidates greatest strength also proves to be his or her greatest weakness. The exact qualities that set them apart from the field tend to undermine their campaigns over the long haul.

Its Ted Cruzs ramrod devotion to principleor, its flip side, an unyielding insistence on getting his waythat could propel him to the front ranks of Republican contenders for president or render him unelectable.

Rand Pauls ability to sell himself as the most libertarian of the presidential candidatesdefending civil liberties at home and opposing military adventurism and nation-building abroadis what can set him apart. But those unconventional ideas could also box him in. Libertarians dont win national elections, unless you count Thomas Jefferson in 1800 and 1804.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is a man in a hurry, whose dizzying political ascenthe has never lost a raceis a testament to his quickness to spot openings and go for them. The question now, as he aims for the White House, is whether voters ultimately see Rubio as refreshing and bold, the inspiring face of a new generationor just a promising young pol getting ahead of himself.

It was as a lifelong broadcaster that Mike Huckabee, the onetime pastor on TV, perfected the conservative amiability that helped him win the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and could again set him apart from an increasingly crowded field of Republicans. But in the GOP of 2016, when the sharp edge plays better than the soft smile, Huckabee enters the race facing a key question: Will the same Im not mad at anybody on-air vibe that fueled his rise make him a non-starter for mad-as-hell early Republican voters?

Some see former Texas governor Rick Perry as one of the most instinctive retail politicians in the 2016 GOP field. Others see a glib pitchman who must overcome the perception that hes all flash and little substance. Four years after his famous oops incident, can he persuade voters that hes the real deal?

Hillary Clintons wont-back-down resolve is the quality that could make her Americas first female president if it doesnt sabotage her first. She may have gotten her first campaign for the Democratic nomination wrong, but now she is doggedly determined to get it right. But that past campaign and her controversial years as first lady, while leaving her with more experience with the nuts and bolts of being president, have also left a trail of ethical questions that provide her challengers ample ammunition on the trail.

Jeb Bushs DNA string might as well be tied around his neck. Its a twisting, double-edged thing, this family inheritance, at once his greatest advantage and disadvantage. On the one hand, it makes him an immediate force in the crowded GOP presidential field. On the other hand, it saddles him with a problem of self-definition; people think they already know him, which means they see him as more of the same of something they already got. Twice.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers immovability, his polite but firm determination to stay the course, both intrigues and frustrates Wisconsin voters. They acknowledge that Walkers uncompromising stance helped him implement his policies in Wisconsin and win a standoff with unions over collective bargaining that gained him a national reputation. But they say the governors victories have come at a steep price: the polarization of a state with a long history of progressive politics and bipartisan civil governance.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies big personality and bold political instincts have put him on the national radar. His willingness to speak from the gut has enabled him to connect directly with voters on both sides of the aisle better than any of the other candidates. But that same bluntness sometimes jeopardizes the very agenda he wants to accomplish.

In this series of eBooks, The Washington Post is exploring in-depth all these key characteristics of the leading presidential contenders, the very characteristics that could help make one of them the countrys next commander in chiefor forever sink their presidential ambitions.

What's great about the eBook format is that it easily allows for changes and fresh developments, making this series an up-to-the-minute account of the 2016 presidential race. As more information and insight about these leading candidates and their stands on the great issues of the day emerge, this eBook will be updated and expanded with the very best writing and reporting from The Washington Post's political staff.

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Copyright 2015 by The Washington Post
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First Diversion Books edition July 2015
ISBN: 978-1-68230-001-5

by Kent Babb

Hillary Rodham Clinton looked into their eyes, her voice dropping. I have to confess, she said, and the group surrounding her in this little makeshift room leaned in.

Usually the atrium at PS/IS 41 in Brooklyn is a community area, kids voices echoing off the tile walls. On this Wednesday in April, it was a political proving ground: Clinton alongside Chirlane McCray, the first lady of New York City, to promote a campaign that encourages parents to talk or sing to their children.

Clinton was just days away from launching a second run for the White House, determined to win what she lost in spectacular fashion in 2008.

But her wont-back-down resolvethe quality that could make her Americas first female president if it doesnt sabotage her firstwas nowhere in sight as she sat at a table with about a half-dozen parents and educators, nodding at their stories.

This was a chance, in a carefully controlled setting, to project the warmer, more intimate persona she would be unveiling in Iowa and New Hampshire. She may have gotten her first campaign for the Democratic nomination wrong, but now she was planning to get it right.

So here she was, in a neighborhood dominated by public housing projects, trying to connect not as President Obamas first secretary of state, or an ex-U.S. senator, or the former first lady of the United Statesthough her audience was acutely aware that shed been all those things. Nor did she want to be seen as a $200,000-per-speech megastar who was driven in a private van to a public school where nearly all 525 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.