Does Hillary risk airing her political laundry in 2016?

The same question I’m sure was asked in 2008 but I think we found the answer to “no” once the campaign heated up. This time around, Hillary Clinton has a little more political baggage than she did in 2008 as the junior Senator from New York. That being said, the larger question, with the reemergence of Monica Lewinksy, is whether Bill Clinton’s political past will come under the spotlight in 2016 if Hillary launches a campaign.

Report from Fox News:

For Hillary Rodham Clinton, the last few months might be comparable to a spring cleaning: An airing of her political past before she sets the course for her much speculated-about future.

As the former secretary of state and first lady mulls a presidential campaign in 2016, reminders of the tumultuous periods of her career have re-emerged in recent weeks: her husband’s affair in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, her ill-fated attempt to overhaul the health care system and the deadly 2012 attack at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

Bill Clinton said presidential campaigns always need to be about the future, but that gets complicated if Hillary Clinton runs again after losing out to Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Republicans might press the argument that at a time when many Americans are unhappy with the nation’s direction, she represents a bygone era marked by political soap operas.

Yet many Democrats say reminders of the 1990s — remember the booming economy? — could help Clinton, and that rehashing her past more than two years before the next presidential election could dispense with a variety of distractions.

The theme seems to be a push for voters to desire the economic growth of the 1990s but forget the scandal and partisanship that dogged Bill Clinton’s second term in office. Of course, Hillary was not in charge at that time so how does this play out in 2016? Maybe the answer, from a campaign strategy perspective, is forget the 1990s because Hillary wants to build a bridge to the 2020s.


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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