United States: The long shadow of Hillary Rodham Clinton over US politics has already prompted Republicans to train their sights on the former first lady.
Republican strategist Arthur Finkelstein is reportedly raising $10 million for a political action committee called Stop Her Now. He aims to prevent Mrs Clinton's re-election to the Senate next year and ultimately thwart any bid for the White House.
Stop Her Now is a so-called "527" advocacy group, similar to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group, which helped undermine presidential candidate John Kerry in November's election. The groups began to emerge last year after campaign funding reform prevented donors giving unlimited sums directly to political parties.
Mr Finkelstein, an adviser to the New York state governor, George Pataki and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, is a controversial figure within his own party. He raised eyebrows by warning against the influence of evangelical Christians. He is also openly gay, and startled some party supporters when headlines at the weekend disclosed that he recently married his male long-term partner.
Although Mrs Clinton has refused to be drawn on the presidency, she is widely seen as a leading contender among the Democrats, and her popularity in New York is at an all-time high.
She was introduced as "the next great president of the United States of America" at an address in Minnesota at the weekend.
The New York Republican party chairman has now launched a "Stop Hillary Now" fundraising drive.
However, Hillary Clinton's spokeswoman, Ann Lewis, has said the Clinton campaign was "not surprised that the Republican party has chosen to wage a personally negative campaign. They don't want to talk about Hillary's record of working for New Yorkers, throughout the state and in the Senate".
- (Guardian Service)