April 25, 2014 - One of the most famous and influential women in the world for 20 plus years, Hillary Rodham Clinton may be on the verge  of re-writing the political history of the United States should she be elected president in 2016.

While most people elected to the White House often have a small or scarce amount of pre-presidential campaign materials, Hillary Clinton has an abundance of campaign buttons featuring her.

Beginning with her husband’s Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has been appearing on campaign buttons for nearly a quarter century.

The 1992 campaign established Hillary Clinton as a valued campaigner and spokesman for the policies of Bill Clinton. This is a role she was accustomed to as she was a key member of Bill Clinton’s campaign staff when he first ran for the office of U.S Congress from Arkansas in 1974.

Popular in her own right, Hillary Clinton appeared on a variety of campaign buttons during the 1992 campaign. This carried over to President Clinton’s 1993 inauguration where the now famous First Couple would be featured on inaugural campaign buttons and other commemorative items.

By 1996 and now First Lady of the United States , Hillary Clinton would continue to be an essential part of her husband’s success and this would be illustrated  with the use of her image on campaign buttons.

One of the most popular Hillary Clinton campaign buttons from 1996 was a pin that features her with rainbow colored hair in a homage to a popular professional basketball player at the time.

The button plays off the similar name each share with the text on the pin reading “Hillary Rodham Clinton as Bad as She Wants to Be.”

1996 would mark the last time that President Bill Clinton’s name would appear on an Election Day ballot. It would however not be the last time that a member of the Clinton family would be a candidate for elective office.

In November of 1998 Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York announced that after four terms in office he would be retiring.

Despite having never lived in the state of New York, Hillary Clinton announced that she would be a candidate for U.S. Senate for the 2000 election. Hillary Clinton established residency in the state by purchasing a home in the town of Chappaqua, New York. Clinton set out on what she called her Listening Tour whereby she would visit all 62 counties in the State of New York.

Initially the Senate race appeared to be the battle of two political titans as Republican Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani announced he would run against Democrat Clinton as her Republican challenger.

In May of 2000 things changed dramatically when Giuliani announced that he would withdraw from the race as he was dealing with prostate cancer.

With Giuliani now out of the race, little known Republican U.S. Congressman Rick Lazio decided to throw his hat into the ring.

Unlike most U.S. Senate races that produce little in the way of campaign buttons, with someone as famous as Hillary Clinton running this caused a wide variety of Hillary Clinton for U.S. Senate campaign buttons to be produced.

No longer the spouse of the candidate but now front and center, Hillary Clinton campaign buttons now said vote for her. Due to her popularity a number of coattail buttons were produced featuring Clinton with then candidate for president Al Gore among others.

On November 7, 2000, Hillary Clinton became not only the first First Lady of the United States to run for political office but also to win when she was elected the new United States Senator from New York. Clinton earned 55% of the vote to 43% for Lazio.

On January 3, 2001 with her husband President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea standing by her side , Hillary Clinton was sworn into office as a United States Senator by Vice President Al Gore.

Almost from the day of her election in 2000, speculation began that Hillary Clinton would run for president possibly as early as 2004. Instead Clinton would sit out that race and announce in November of 2004 that she would run for re-election to the Senate for the 2006 election cycle.

In her re-election bid Clinton would face Republican and the former Mayor of Yonkers, John Spencer. Clinton would trounce Spencer rolling up 67% of the vote to just 31% for her opponent.

The stage now seemed set for  Hillary Clinton to run for President in 2008 with a good likely hood of winning. At this point in early 2007 Clinton held large leads over any potential Democratic Party challengers for the 2008 nomination.

There was however another star in the Democratic Party who could affect Hillary Clinton's chances in 2008 and his name was Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

The young and charismatic Senator Barack Obama had rocketed to political super stardom when he delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Almost immediately there was speculation that Obama would run for president, possibly as early as 2008.

On January 20, 2007 Senator Clinton announced that she was running for president. Senator Obama announced shortly after on February 10, 2007 that he too was running for president.

Through much of 2007 Hillary Clinton would lead in national opinion polls. On January 3, 2008 Obama won the Iowa Caucuses establishing him as the front runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

Finishing third in the Iowa Caucuses behind Obama and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, Clinton trailed in the polls heading into the New Hampshire Presidential Primary set for January 8, 2008.

Should Clinton loose the New Hampshire Presidential Primary her presidential quest would surely be over. Despite being behind in the polls leading into the primary, Clinton won the primary by two points which breathed new life into her campaign.

Next up in the Obama verses Clinton contest was Super Tuesday. When all the votes were counted after Super Tuesday voting in 23 states on February 5, 2008, Obama would be in front with 847 delegates for the day to 834 for Clinton.

Despite Obama holding the edge in the delegate count, the primary fight would continue all the way till the final voting in June. With the nomination out of her grasp, Clinton would withdraw from the race on June 7, 2008 and pledge her full support to Obama.

The 2008 presidential campaign would see an explosion of campaign buttons produced for both Obama and Clinton. One campaign button would call for a dream team of Clinton and Obama. There are dream team campaign buttons that show Clinton as president and Obama as vice president and vice a versa.

Most of the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign buttons featured single pictures of her, but a few included her husband President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea. Generally Hillary Clinton campaign buttons show hers smiling but some do include a serious looking candidate. One campaign button has a hip vibe to it and that is the Hot For Hillary pinback. Another cool button with a 1960s feel to it is the Deadheads for Hillary campaign button.

With Obama’s election to the presidency in November of 2008 it appeared Clinton’s future would be in the U.S. Senate.

Despite their hard fought primary campaign for the Democratic nomination, President-elect Obama announced on December 1, 2008 that he was selecting Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State.

On the January 21, 2009 Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State by the full United States Senate in a vote of 94 – 2.

During her time as Secretary of State, Clinton visited 112 countries the most ever by a sitting Secretary of State. Clinton also embraced the use of social media by the State Department as way to get its message out and to empower people around the world. Furthermore Secretary Clinton saw the Mideast turmoil’s of 2011 and beyond as an opportunity to advance the rights of women.

Clinton had mentioned during her tenure as Secretary of State that she would only service one term. She left office on February 1, 2013.

Almost immediately after the 2012 presidential election, Clinton was mentioned as a probable candidate for the White House. Since that time polls on the 2016 election, have seen Clinton constantly in the lead against other contenders such as Vice President Joe Biden. Currently Clinton leads any potential opponents by more than 50 points. Clinton also generally leads any potential Republican challengers in head to head general election match ups by a spread of eight to ten points.

Surprising 2016 could be a re-match of the Bush – Clinton battle of 1992 should Hillary Clinton win the Democratic Party nomination and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush win the Republican Party nomination. 2016 could be a bonanza for those collectors of Bush and Clinton campaign buttons and other political memorabilia.

More importantly Hillary Clinton campaign buttons for president 2016 are now already widely available. While the Hillary Clinton campaign buttons are ready, time will tell if Hillary Clinton herself is ready to make one more run at the White House. One Hillary Clinton campaign button playing off this theme features the slogan I’m Ready for Hillary on it.

To see the Hillary Clinton campaign buttons for the 2016 election that are available and to view a nice selection of pins from Clinton’s past campaigns be sure to check out the Hillary Clinton page at campaignbuttons-etc.com. Just click here: Hillary Clinton campaign buttons

 April 17, 2014 - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie leads the latest presidential poll of potential GOP contenders for the 2016 Republican nomination.

Despite being dogged by the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal, Christie finds himself a top of a very crowded field of GOP contenders.

The poll finds Christie with 15% followed by former Governor Jeb Bush with 14% and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky also with 14%.

The second tier of Republican Hopefuls shows them all polling in the single digits.

2012 Republican Vice Presidential nominee and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan is as 9%, followed by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida at 8% and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas at 7%.

The following potential commanders in chief all find themselves tied at 5%, they are former  Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Wisconsin Governor  Scott Walker.

In dead last in the GOP presidential sweepstakes is Louisianian Governor Bobby Jindal at 2%.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her domination of the Democratic field with an eye popping 69% of respondents.

Clinton's closest rival for 2016 Democratic Party Presidential nomination is Vice President Joe Biden at a mere 14%.

Rounding out the Democrats is Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 6%, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at 2% and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley at 1%.

Clinton also finds herself in the lead in potential head to head match ups as she leads Christie by 8%. Mrs. Clinton lead both Bush and Paul by 9%.

 April 6, 2014 - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said in interview released Sunday that he will decide by the end of the year whether or not to run for the White House in 2016.

On the controversial issue of illegal immigration Bush said that "It's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime. There should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families."

A potential White House bid has been helped in recent months by the trouble New Jersey Governor Chris Christie  has found himself in over the Bridgegate scandal.

Christie who at one time was leading some presidential polls now finds himself mired in the bottom third tier of potential GOP White House hopefuls.

As Christie and Bush would appeal to the same type of more moderate Republican voter, if Christie can not make a run in 2016 that would be a plus for Bush.

Should Bush win the presidency in 2016 , he would be the third member of his family to do so. Bush's father was the 41st President of the United States and his brother was the 43rd President.

 March 30, 2014 - Several 2016 GOP White House hopefuls spoke  yesterday at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas , Nevada.

Governor John Kasich of Ohio, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey addressed the gathering.

For Christie is was an effort to move on from the Bridgegate scandal that has overshadowed his possible 2016 presidential bid since it erupted in January of this year.

An internal report commissioned  by the Christie Administration, released last week cleared Governor Christie of any involvement in the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in September of 2013. The report placed the blame for the closures on Christie then Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelley and Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey David Wildstein.

While Christie feels exonerated by the report, an investigation is still under way by a New Jersey legislative committee and the United States Attorney of New Jersey's Office.