Taking her first step towards running for the White House next year, Hilary Clinton was confident to victory. "I am in to win." she wrote on her website. The former First Lady and New York senator today set up an exploratory committee, allowing her to raise money and hire staff for a full presidential bid. But while she is the front runner for the democratic nomination, she faces strong competition, as Keme Nzerem reports from Washington.

"I announce today that I am forming a presidential exploratory committee. I'm not just starting a campaign though. I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America."

And with that, the Clinton Dynasty moves a step closer. But Hilary's conversation with America has never been much of a cozy chitchat. Standing by her husband through the dark days of his impeachment, "This is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since..."

Such honesty costing her dear, not trusted by mid-America, eventually led into glad hand voters with the best of them, but failing to shed her image as aloof and calculating. Still shrewd enough to get herself on the senate Arms services committee, no better place for a female commander-in-chief to establish her credentials.

"You are presiding over a failed policy. Given your track record, secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?"

Political heft that took her to Iraq last week, seeking a solution to what will be the signature issue of this campaign, how to bring America's troops home without it looking like defeat.

"So let's talk; let's chat. Let's start a dialogue about your ideas and mine. Because the conversation in Washington has been just a little one-sided lately, don't you think? And we can all see how well that works."

Hilary's campaign kick-started after Barack Obama confirmed his own presidential ambitions earlier this week. The new darling of the left, appealing, too, to America's center ground, a fresh start and consensus politics.

Senator Obama today says he welcomes Hilary's decision not as a competitor but as an ally in the work of getting America back on track. Interesting is this already talk of friction between Hilary and another democrat contender, former senator John Edwards. "If she is gonna make it to the White House in 2008, her conversations have a long way yet to run." Keme Nzerem, channel 4 news, Washington.

And in the last hour, the republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback has announced that he too will stand for the presidency. A fierce opponent of abortion and gay marriage; he joins a race that's likely to include the former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Arizona Senator John McCain.