A few hours into her journey from New York, Mrs Clinton tweeted: “Road trip! Loaded the van & set off for IA. Met a great family when we stopped this afternoon. Many more to come. -H.”<\/p>\n Mrs Clinton’s team said she would spend the next few weeks building up grassroots support in the early Democratic primary states.<\/p>\n Her first rally, to officially kick off her campaign, is not expected until mid-May. But her trip to Iowa is to be a “listening tour” where Mrs Clinton will meet voters at low-key events.<\/p>\n Later this week, she is expected to meet groups of students, teachers and small business owners.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Mrs Clinton launched her campaign website and declared in a video that she was running for president.<\/p>\n “Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times,” she said, “but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top.<\/p>\n She added that she wanted to be a champion for “everyday Americans”.<\/p>\n The video features a number of Americans talking about their hopes and aspirations.<\/p>\n The launch of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency was meant to be low-key.<\/p>\n It was meant to reflect the idea that it was all about ordinary Americans and the everyday concerns of the middle class.<\/p>\n But whether she likes it or not, Mrs Clinton is a huge name in politics and reinventing herself as the embodiment of change won’t be easy.<\/p>\n True, she is unlikely to face any stiff competition from her own side for the nomination, but Republicans have been unrelenting in their attacks on her and that will only increase.<\/p>\n She will also have to find a convincing vision for America that will capture the imagination of the voters.<\/p>\n Elections are usually about the future and Mrs Clinton has to prove that she’s not all about the past.<\/p>\n Mrs Clinton has already had the backing of Mr Obama, who said on Saturday that she would make an “excellent president”.<\/p>\n But the attacks from Republicans have already started.<\/p>\n Jeb Bush, former Florida Governor and brother of George W Bush who expected to stand as a Republican candidate, tweeted: “We must do better than Hillary.”<\/p>\n In his own online video on Sunday, he focused on foreign policy, saying: “We must do better than the Obama-Clinton foreign policy that has damaged relationships with our allies and emboldened our enemies.”<\/p>\n Another Republican presidential contender. Rand Paul, also criticised Mrs Clinton for her handling of a September 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in which the US ambassador was among those killed.<\/p>\n He also said questions remained about funds received by a charity set up by Mr and Mrs Clinton.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has set out for a tour of key states, at the start of her campaign to become the first woman US president. She is taking a road trip to meet small groups of voters in Iowa, after announcing her presidency bid in an online video on Sunday. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":107733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n![\"An](\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/media\/images\/82275000\/jpg\/_82275723_a568bc8c-320b-456e-a61e-70aa67a5604b.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n