Hillary Clinton 2016: Campaign Chugging Ahead, But Still No Official Declaration Yet

Hillary Clinton still hasn’t officially declared her intention to run for president in 2016, but political experts believe her campaign is already kicking off in earnest.

This weekend the former Secretary of State will be in Iowa, where Hillary is making yet another visit to a key primary state. She has been building what appears to be the bedrock of a campaign, with a steady stream of appearances to promote her book but also to begin building support.

Buzzfeed political writer Ben Smith sees a familiar pattern in Clinton’s behavior:

“Today’s Clinton campaign, like the one back then, is a tractor trailer moving down the highway, one whose driver — Hillary — can exert some control over its direction and speed, but whose stopping distance is measured in miles, and who can barely control the thing at all once it’s rolling downhill.”

Clinton has already made an official declaration of sorts — vowing that she won’t announce anything officially until early 2015.

“I am going to be making a decision… probably after the first of the year about whether I’m going to run again or not,” Clinton said at a charity event last week hosted by Carlos Slim, the world’s second-richest man, in Mexico City.

When she does officially declare her intention to run for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton will enter the race as a favorite. She has led early polls, both general 2016 election polls and Democratic primary polls.

But Clinton faces challenges as well. She was also seen as frontrunner of the 2008 race until the time of her upset loss in the Iowa primary, when Barack Obama took control of the race.

Recent polls also show a softening in popularity for Hillary Clinton. In a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll some 43 percent of registered voters viewed her positively, down from 59 percent when she entered the State Department in 2009.