One of the Democratic Party's frontrunners for the presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton currently serves as a U.S. Senator for New York.
This former First Lady is the only presidential candidate to have already lived in the White House, from 1993 until 2001 when her husband, Bill Clinton, served as President. Born in Chicago, Clinton attended Wellesley College (a institution with an all-female student body) and Yale Law School. She earned her juris doctorate from Yale in 1973. She married Bill Clinton in 1975 and moved to Arkansas. In 1979 she became a partner at Rose Law Firm.
Clinton was politically active as First Lady during her husband Bill’s term as President. Her proposal for a national health care program was rejected by Congress. She was involved in establishing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).
Abortion and Stem Cell Research
Clinton has been a strong pro-choice advocate. She has, however, pointed out that being pro-choice does not necessarily mean being pro-abortion and she has called abortion “a sad choice.” Clinton has also supported the legalization of “Plan B” or “morning after” contraception drugs. She supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Education
Clinton is a proponent of incentive pay for teachers on a school wide basis based on school performance. She has opposed individual merit pay for teachers in the past. She supports the concept of school choice - the idea that parents should be able to remove their children from schools that perform poorly and place then in schools with a history of academic success. But she supports school choice only within the framework of public education and opposes federally funded vouchers to help pay private school tuition. Clinton is also a supporter of universal preschool education.
At the higher education level, Clinton has advocated ending federal student loans programs and replacing those programs with simple need-based grants.
Health Care
Clinton has promised to have universal health care coverage in America by the end of her second term. “I want to be the health care president,” Clinton has said. She is more sympathetic to the health care, pharmaceutical and insurance industries than many of her Democratic rivals and she has said that she would include those industries in the discussions that shape her health care proposal.
Immigration
Clinton voted in favor of building a fence along the Mexican border. She has said that America needs more border patrols on both the Mexican and Canadian borders. She has said in the past that immigration reform should have unification of immigrant families as a goal. She voted against declaring English the official language of government in America. She voted for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill of 2007.
Taxes and Social Security
Clinton has questioned the current structure of the payroll tax that funds Social Security and has suggested that she would favor extending that tax to cover all earned income; currently only the first $95,000 of an individual’s earned income is taxed under that payroll tax. Clinton has repeatedly said that she favors repealing the Bush Administrations tax cuts for the upper class.
Gay Marriage
Clinton has not taken strong positions on gay marriage. She opposes the constitutiuonal amdendment to ban gay marriage but sees gay marriage as a state issue.
The Iraq War
Clinton originally voted to give President Bush the power to invade Iraq. She has been criticized by her Democratic rivals because she will not say that the vote was a mistake. But she has also become an opponent of the war in Iraq.
Conclusion
Clinton was widely viewed as the frontrunner for much of the campaign leading up to the Iowa Caucus. What many analysts see as poor debate performance has led to a tightening up of the Democratic race as the primary season approaches, and Clinton's status as frontrunner is no longer completely clear.
Hillary Clinton's Official Site: http://www.hillaryclinton.com
