Hillary Rodham Clinton began developing her first campaign for the presidency in 2007, as part of the United States presidential election, 2008.

Early opposition from two sides

In February 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that several anti-Clinton organizations, including Stop Her Now and Stop Hillary PAC, were preparing "swiftboating" style attacks against her, with venues to include a documentary film, numerous books, and websites. A top Rudy Giuliani donor, Richard Collins, who has also supported George W. Bush for several years, was central in establishing "Stop Her Now."Mike Taibbi, "Worse Than Bush: He's [Giuliani's] Cashing in on 9/11, working with Karl Rove's henchman and in cahoots with a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary." Rolling Stone, June 14, 2007, p. 55.

CNN reported that 320,000 users joined the Facebook group "Stop Hillary Clinton: (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)".Linnie Rawlinson, "Will the 2008 USA election be won on Facebook?" , CNN.com, Accessed June 13, 2007. The news blog, Politico gave the membership number as 418,000 members. This group was the largest group for or against a presidential candidate on Facebook; The Politico argued that this happened because "Clinton has had a polarizing effect."

Former Bill Clinton fundraiser and ally David Geffen spoke out against Hillary Clinton in an interview with Maureen Dowd. Geffen stated that Clinton "was overproduced and overscripted." He also stated that, "I don't think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person [...] Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling." The Clinton campaign responded by stating, "While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband. If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money. While Democrats should engage in a vigorous debate on the issues, there is no place in our party or our politics for the kind of personal insults made by Senator Obama's principal fundraiser."

Accent While speaking from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama, on March 4, 2007, as part of ceremonies honoring the anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, Clinton used a broad Southern Drawl during parts of her talk and used speech patterns common to the Southern United States."Detractors claim Hillary Clinton mocked southern accent" , WMC-TV, March 5, 2007. Accessed March 5, 2007 A Clinton aide pointed out she lived in the Southern United States for 17 years, which could explain the southern accent,ABC: Political Punch blog: Ah’ve come toooo fahhhr . March 5, 2007. and other defenders of Clinton pointed out that the most commonly circulated audio and video clips of her "Southern" speech focused on a segment in which she was reciting the lyrics of a James Cleveland hymn and trying to reproduce its original cadences.Greg Sargent, "Yet Another Wingnut Sliming Of Hillary Proven To Be Bogus" , March 5, 2007. Accessed March 6, 2007. On April 20, 2007, while speaking her own words to the annual convention of the National Action Network, she once again temporarily adopted this accent. On April 27, 2007, while speaking at a campaign event in Greenville, South Carolina, Clinton said that she had split her life among three parts of the country and that her sometimes-Southern accent was a virtue. She joked, "I think America is ready for a multilingual president."

Discussion of Iraq War (first debate) On April 26, 2007, she appeared with seven other Democratic candidates at the first debate of the campaign, held at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and broadcast on MSNBC. Of her initial Senate vote to approve the U.S. role in the Iraq War, she stated, "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have voted that way." She further stated, "If this president does not get us out of Iraq, when I'm president I will."Alex Johnson, "Democrats seek to seize initiative on Iraq: Eight candidates wrangle over who's the toughest on Bush policy", NBC News, April 27, 2007. Accessed May 7, 2007.

Threat On May 4, 2007, a Louisiana State University student was arrested and held on charges of planning an attack against Clinton during a Baton Rouge appearance." College student charged with threatening Hillary Clinton" , Associated Press, May 4, 2007. Accessed May 5, 2007.

Polling trends All opinion polls in April 2007 showed Clinton as the Democratic frontrunner, however with different margins: Obama was listed in third place nationwide with 17% and John Edwards in second place with 19% behind Clinton with 41% , angusreid, April 6, 2007. Retrieved on April 9, 2007. according to an Angus-Reid poll, whereas Clinton was listed in first place with 34% and Obama in second place with 29%, ahead of Edwards with only 15% in a Rasmussen-Reports poll.RasmussenReports 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary , rassmussenreports.com, April 9, 2007. Retrieved on April 9, 2007. By May 2007, polls were showing the race even tighter, with Rasmussen Reports showing Obama pulling ahead of Clinton 32% to 30%.2008 Democratic Presidential Primary , Rasmussen Reports, April 30, 2007. Accessed May 1, 2007. But on May 24, 2007, a CBS News/NY Times poll showed Clinton, with 46%, 22 points ahead of Obama, with 24%, and 32 points ahead of Edwards, with 14%. Clinton held her lead over the summer; in September a CNN poll showed her leading Obama 46% to 23%, and in October the same poll showed her commanding majority Democratic support, with 51% compared to Obama's 21% and Edwards' 15%.

On May 4, 2007, a Gallup Poll report showed that since the beginning of the year, her favorable-unfavorable ratio had declined from 58% favorable, 40% unfavorable to 45% favorable, 52% unfavorable.The Gallup Poll, "Hillary's Image", May 4, 2007. Accessed May 7, 2007.

Campaign song In June 2007, Clinton spoofed the much-talked-about closing scene of "Made in America", the series finale of The Sopranos, with the subject being the voting for her campaign song. The parody shows her entering a diner to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", followed by Bill entering but not getting the onion rings he really wants, while daughter Chelsea is unable to parallel park her car. Sopranos cast member Vince Curatola also appears in the skit, mimicking "Man in Members Only" but with his signature Johnny Sack malevolent glare. The screen then goes black.Clinton Spoof Clinton Campaign video

The campaign song selected was Céline Dion's "You and I", which garnered political criticism from Republicans for being "outsourced" to a Canadian singer; the song was written initially for use in an Air Canada commercial."Dion song captures Clinton vote" , BBC News, June 20, 2007. Accessed June 23, 2007.

Viral videos Besides the Sopranos spoof, other popular viral videos played a role in the campaign. In March 2007, "Hillary 1984" spliced footage of Clinton into the legendary "1984" Apple Computer television commercial, ending with a plug for Barack Obama's candidacy. In June 2007 Obama was the beneficiary of the very popular "I Got a Crush on Obama" music video, as an attractive young woman suggestively sang his praises. In July 2007 singer and actress Taryn Southern wrote and performed in an answer music video, "Hott4Hill", that earned national media attention for its sexually ambiguous declaration of support for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. In both cases, the videos were created and produced independently of the Obama and Clinton campaigns. In December 2007 satirical site 23/6 produced two videos "against" Clinton by a purported "SwiftKids for Truth" that made fun of viral videos and negative ads in general. In January 2008, the Clinton campaign disseminated a video targeting the 18- to 29-year-old demographic in hopes of attracting voters away from Obama.Hillary Shreds webcastr.com. Retrieved February 18, 2008 According to a Newsweek blogger, Andrew Romano, the ad was created by actual young supporters instead of high-paid media consultants.

First campaign trip with Bill In early July 2007, Bill Clinton "served as an opening act" for Hillary during a three-day tour. It was the "first joint public campaign appearance for the couple since Hillary Clinton announced her bid for the White House in January."John Whitesides, "Bill Clinton tries a new role -- supporting actor" , Reuters, July 4, 2007. Accessed July 4, 2007.

Later debates Following the July 12, 2007, Democratic candidates debate at an NAACP convention, a live microphone caught Clinton discussing in private with third-in-the-polls fellow candidate John Edwards how to get future debates limited to fewer candidates: "We've got to cut the number . . . They're not serious."

Release of First Lady records In July 2007, watchdog group Judicial Watch sued the National Archives over the slow release of documents covering her career as First Lady.Peter Nicholas, "Clinton's first-lady records locked up", the Los Angeles Times, 2007-08-14. Accessed 2007-09-18. Almost 2 million pages of documents held at the Clinton Library had yet to be released from those years, with less than 1 percent having been released.Who Was Hillary Clinton? The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2008, Page A10. Federal archivists stated that the process is slow due to the need to perform redactions due to the law, and likely would extend past the 2008 presidential election. Clinton had said at the time of the library's opening in 2004 that "everything's going to be available."CNN Larry King Live Transcript from November 21, 2004, interview with Hillary Clinton Political consultants said that the unreleased documents might be a rich source for opposition research against Clinton.

This issue intensified with the October 30, 2007, Democratic debate at Drexel University, where Hillary Clinton came under fire about it from MSNBC moderator Tim Russert and from Democratic opponents. Russert displayed a document signed by President Clinton that specifically requested that certain records and communications involving her not be made public until 2012. When Russert asked Hillary Clinton whether she would lift the presidential order, Hillary Clinton responded by saying, "That's not my decision to make." A concurrent Newsweek investigation stated that Bill Clinton had requested the archivists hold back a large variety of documents. A few days later, Bill Clinton vigorously defended his wife's responses, saying that Russert's question was "breathtakingly misleading" and that Newsweek's article was off the mark, saying, "She was incidental to the letter, it was done five years ago, it was a letter to speed up presidential releases, not to slow them down." Factcheck.org subsequently concluded that Russert's claim was incorrect, that Bill Clinton had released White House records earlier and in greater numbers than his two immediate predecessors, and that there was not much Hillary Clinton could do to speed up the release of records involving her. However, on March 6, 2008, Federal archivists at the Clinton Presidential Library blocked the release of hundreds of pages of White House papers on pardons that the former president approved, including clemency for fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich, based on guidance provided by Bill Clinton.

Fears of backlash