Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her second run at the presidency as soon as this weekend.
Her decision will turn the long-time Democratic frontrunner into an official candidate and bring the 2016 race into sharper focus.
The announcement, reported by the Wall Street Journal, has been widely expected for weeks, particularly since Clinton accelerated her hiring of staff and made plans for her campaign headquarters to be in Brooklyn.
Clinton would be the first Democrat to announce for the presidency and is expected to be a heavy favorite for the nomination.
So far two candidates, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have announced on the Republican side.
Clinton’s unofficial campaign, which has been apparently underway for years, has suffered severe setbacks recently, particularly since news in March that she set up a secret email account on a server in her New York home to conduct government business on while she was secretary of State.
The existence of the account, it’s secrecy, and that fact that Clinton destroyed emails wanted by congressional investigators, have disinterred memories of corner-cutting and questionable ethics during her sojourn at the White House in the 1993-2000 presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton.
In addition to the email scandal, apparent conflicts of interest involving foreign money have also tarnished Clinton’s image in recent weeks. The Clinton family foundation accepted money from foreign governments and corporations, prompting widespread suspicion that the donations were efforts to curry favor with one of the most powerful officials in Washington and a short-odds future president.
Clinton’s vulnerabilities have sparked anxiety among Democrats about the possibility her winning the nomination without a serious challenger. The Left has called frequently for progressive candidates to fight against Clinton in the primary.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has been running an as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign and taking shots at Clinton.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the populist darling of progressives, has steadfastly refused her supporters’ urgings to jump into the race. But she has not endorsed Clinton for the nomination.
