Clinton has become a formidable force in US politics

The New York senator and former First Lady is one of the favourites to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential candidacy.
 
However, she faces a considerable battle, both with many US voters' perceptions of her and with her closest rival, Illinois senator Barack Obama.
 
Many also argue US voters will forever associate her with the scandals of her husband's tenure in the White House.
 
But while detractors argue she has used her husband's name to gain political credibility, her supporters charge the hostility stems from sexism and emphasise her impressive political experience both in the US and on the international stage.
 
First lady

The New York state senator has been active politically from an early age

Born Hillary Rodham in the midwestern US state of Illinois in 1947 to a politically conservative family, Clinton was an excellent student and active in politics from an early age.
 
She trained as a lawyer at Yale University, working for child advocacy groups, supporting women's rights and campaigning on behalf of several Democrat politicians, including Walter Mondale, the former Democrat presidential hopeful.
 
It was at Yale that she met fellow law student Bill Clinton, whom she later married in 1975 in his home state of Arkansas.
 
She became first lady of the southern state following her husband's successful bid for the state governorship in 1978, holding the position for more than 10 years. Her only child, daughter Chelsea, was born in 1980.
 
Following her husband's leap to national politics and entry to the White House in 1992, Clinton was appointed by her husband as head of a task force aimed at an ambitious overhaul of America's beleagured healthcare system.
 
However, the task force's recommendations were ultimately rejected by US congress after Republicans and health professionals criticised the proposals.
 
In addition to the sting of public failure following the health care plan collapse, Clinton also faced a constant struggle against the traditionally perceived role of the First Lady, once commenting acerbicly that she did not just want to stay at home and "bake cookies" while her husband ran the country.
 
From scandal to senator

Clinton [r] saw her husband elected to two terms in the Oval office

Successive scandals during her husband's two terms in office, culminating in his unsuccessful impeachment for a liasion with intern Monica Lewinsky, also took their toll on her public image.
 
Clinton weathered the so-called Whitewater property scandal, however her husband's liason with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, proved harder to ignore.
 
Clinton later admitted in her autobiography, Living History, that the revelations of her husband's infidelity wounded her deeply.
 
In 2000, after the Clintons left the White House, Clinton successfully ran for the US senate for New York state, despite allegations of "carpet-bagging" as she had never previously resided in the state.
 
Foreign affairs
 
Clinton's move to the centre of the Democratic party was seen by political analysts as a calculated move to appeal to as broad a base of voters as possible.
 
Clinton has been criticised by many Democrats for her decision to vote in favour of the Iraq war in 2003, but has since distanced herself from the decision.
 
She calling on George Bush, the US president, to withdraw US troops, writing in a November article for Foreign Affairs magazine that ending the war "is the first step toward restoring the United States' global leadership".

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