Hillary Clinton enlists mother in first run of ads

  • 04/08/2015
Hillary Clinton's mother Dorothy (Hillary Clinton/YouTube)
Hillary Clinton's mother Dorothy (Hillary Clinton/YouTube)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is airing her first 2016 campaign television ads in the United States.

The two-minute-long spots - tributes to Clinton's mother that stress resilience, empathy and family - will air in early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire from Tuesday and appear aimed to stress the former Secretary of State's connection to average Americans and their everyday struggles.

Tax data released by Clinton's campaign on Friday indicated she and husband Bill Clinton earned well over US$100 million in the last eight years, paying US$57.5 million in taxes.

In the first video, Clinton tells the story of her mother Dorothy Howell Rodham: "She was abandoned by her parents at the age of eight, sent from Chicago to LA to live with grandparents who didn't want her."

"But people showed her kindness, gave her a chance... When she needed a champion someone was there. I think about all the Dorothys all over America who fight for their families, who never give up.

"That's why I'm doing this. That's why I've always done this. For all the Dorothys."

The second ad focuses on her mother's story and the qualities she tried to embody.

"She never gave up, and she taught me to do the same," says a narrator, going on to list some of Clinton's efforts to help children.

The Clinton campaign will hope that the ads help reintroduce one of the United States' most famous and polarising figures to voters.

Clinton currently leads the Democratic field by a wide margin, but according to pollsters she is more disliked than liked among the broader electorate.

AFP