By Sydney Fallone

In the past week, a handful of Republicans and Democrats have announced their candidacy for the 2016 presidential race. On the Republican side, three individuals have recently proclaimed their candidacy. Ted Cruz tweeted “I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!” He began his candidacy with a round of TV appearances and swings through New Hampshire and Iowa. Rand Paul used his website as a platform to announce; he wrote, “I am running for President to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government.” Additionally, Marco Rubio has recently proclaimed his candidacy in a call to donors this past Monday. Mr. Rubio said that he plans to make a “big announcement” in Miami on April 13th. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the only Democrat that has announced thus far. This past Sunday, Mrs. Clinton sought to chart the way forward by releasing an optimistic video. This progressive and forward-thinking announcement approach allowed Hillary to set herself apart from the pack in an attempt to appeal to a wider range of voters and to portray herself as a champion for middle-class Americans.

Eight years later, Hillary announced via video yet again that varied markedly from the one she released in 2007. In the previous announcement video, she was sitting on a couch talking a great deal about herself, George Bush, and the Iraq War. However, her 2015 announcement video portrayed an air of hope and optimism. A combination of unique and diverse individuals talked about spring, new jobs, new homes, a gay couple getting married, retirement, and a new beginning as a college student applies for a job. This video is very much about the Democratic coalition of today. There is no reference to her past and certainly not to the Clinton era of the 1990’s.  Hillary shows up at the end of the very peppy video with a positive tone. One substantive point she made in the video was that “Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those on top.” This statement was a populist message; Hillary is portraying herself as a fighter for herself and for others, especially against greater forces that are weighing on American citizens. Her core message seemed to be this: “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion, so you can do more than just get by — you can get ahead, and stay ahead — because when families are strong, America is strong.” What is interesting though is that this video does not focus on people steeped in poverty either. It is very much a middle class-centric video: someone starting a home renovation project, another starting a business, and someone starting a new career at a fifth-generation company, saying “this country was founded on hard work.” Hillary’s strategic portrayal of the democratic coalition, her populist messages and her emphasis on “earning” votes definitely propels her forward in comparison to the other candidates who have failed thus far to appeal to the masses through their announcement approaches.