Candidate Spotlight: Democrat Hillary Clinton

Today's candidate spotlight is on Democratic candidate Sen Hillary Clinton. The former first lady has roots in Arkansas but represents New York state in the US Senate. Labeled as an ultra-leftie while developing a universal health care plan as First Lady, Clinton has repackaged herself as a moderate.

Clinton is a woman of many "firsts" : the first "first lady" to run for public office; the first "first lady" to be subpoenaed; the first "first lady" to have her marriage splashed across the tabloids; the first woman to be elected Senator from NY. An attorney, she graduated from Wellesley College and Yale University. She is a member of the United Methodist Church.

Clinton voted for the Iraq War Resolution but subsequently says she opposes the Bush Administration's foreign policy and opposed the "surge." Quotable:

Obviously, I've thought about [the Iraq vote] a lot in the months since. No, I don't regret giving the president authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade...

The consensus was the same, from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration... It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared.

But I think that in the case of the [Bush] administration, they really believed it. They really thought they were right, but they didn't let enough sunlight into their thinking process to really have the kind of debate that needs to take place when a serious decision occurs like that.

Read more about Hillary Clinton from USP, US Liberals, Women's Rights and Civil Liberties. Watch her YouTube Debate Ad.

In addition, see 2008 Election Central, Primary Calendar, Comparison of 2008 Democratic and Republican Presidential Candidate Fundraising - 3rd Quarter 2007, About.com 2008 Straw Poll.