Hillary Clinton (D-NY, AR, IL) announced yesterday that she is running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Clinton, of course, ran for the nomination in 2008 and finished behind Barack Obama. Just as then, she begins the contest as the presumptive nominee, but that guarantees nothing. She has very high name recognition, though she is not necessarily well-liked, which suggests her essential campaign dynamics may be hard to change. Put differently, exposing more people to Hillary may not help her all that much.

In spite of what her critics might believe, Hillary brings a solid résumé to the field, at least in comparison to many of her rivals. She has been a Senator and Secretary of State, and as part of the Clinton machine, she will raise as much money as necessary. What she lacks, however, is good retail skills. She is robotic and sometimes blind to how people view her. Neither Bill’s charm nor her fundraising will cover those blemishes.

Hillary’s campaign will hinge on the potentially historic nature of her election. She could be the first woman to occupy the Oval Office. Will she be able to leverage that reality into a victory in the same way Barack Obama did in 2008? The difference is that Obama’s “first” relied on a different political coalition. Will Hillary be able to maximize votes among racial minorities? I am skeptical, but let’s see.

Conservatives and Republicans will cling to the belief that no one, in their mind, this flawed could win the presidency. They will tick off the scandals–Whitewater, Bill’s Impeachment, Cattle Futures, Travel Office, Emails, Benghazi, Clinton Foundation, and the list goes on and on. These will likely be irrelevant. Those who care about such scandals will never vote for Hillary. Those who love her will overlook them. Those who don’t care will not take the time to learn. As such, expect Hillary’s past to have little to do with 2016.

Here is a link to Hillary’s website. What do you think? I actually like the logo, but why wasn’t the arrow incorporated in such a way that it did not fall outside of the “H” itself. The little point to the side seems unnecessary and clunky.