Hillary Clinton
A long-time favourite with many bookies, Hillary Clinton was preparing for this presidential campaign while husband Bill was still in The White House.
She has been a prolific fundraiser and will need plenty of campaign cash to defeat a formidable opponent in Barack Obama. History suggests there will be a Democratic White House come 2009, so the fight for the Democratic nomination could well be tougher than the fight for presidency itself.
That said, Clinton is a woman who can attract vitriol and devotion in equal measure, and plenty of Republicans could be voting “ABC” – Anyone But Clinton – in November.
Her gender is just one issue that looms above her campaign, although she insists, “People are not attacking me because I’m a woman; they’re attacking me because I’m ahead.”
