Hillary Clinton set to launch her bid for presidency

After years of speculation and anticipation, Hillary Clinton is at last expected to launch her US presidential campaign tomorrow.

The former Secretary of State will reportedly announce her candidacy via Twitter and other social media at midday Eastern Time, as she travels from New York to Iowa to begin her non-stop electoral tour ahead of the 2016 primary season.

Unlike some of her Republican rivals, Mrs Clinton has not planned a major rally to kick off her campaign, but will instead hold several conference calls followed by a series of small events with voters in Iowa, a key primary state. The Democrat front-runner’s fundraising ambitions, however, are anything but small.

One Super PAC (political action committee), Ready For Hillary, has already raised almost $15m (£10.2m) to support Mrs Clinton’s White House bid, but that number will soon be dwarfed, say observers, who expect her campaign to cost more than President Obama’s $1bn (£682m) re-election run in 2012. Mrs Clinton will be the first Democrat candidate to declare for the 2016 election. Should she return to the White House 16 years after leaving it as First Lady, she would be the first female US president.

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