2016 U.S. Election: Can Hillary Clinton Outrun The Past?

After ending months of speculation, Hillary Clinton is expected to officially announce her candidacy for President of the United States.

According to CNN.com, the former First Lady is expected to make the official announcement via video on social media Sunday.

Clinton, who served under President Barack Obama from 2009-13 as Secretary of State, faces an uphill challenge from a proverbially blood-thirsty pool of Republican challengers such as Texas senator Ted Cruz and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

That as well as potential foes such as Florida’s Jeb Bush and possibly Elizabeth Warren from her own party and Clinton could be in for what may be a rough campaign trail.

What may also work against Clinton is her—and notably her husband, Bill—and their checkered past.

While many see her as the good political wife that stood by her husband’s side during impeachment for the Monica Lewinsky scandal, many in her own party have never forgiven her.

Other controversies such as Whitewater, Travel-gate and the tragic suicide of Deputy White House counsel, Vince Foster could also be dredged up by Republicans, in what will be a hard-fought presidential election campaign.

Fast forward to the present, and Clinton is now the subject of questionable e-mail’s that were deleted from servers, never-ending conspiracies of Benghazi, and Clinton could be a potential liability for Democrats in 2016, hopeful of staying in the White House.

With early polls already having her behind Paul in swing states, the prospect of Clinton being an underdog looms rather large.

While many Millennials were not even born during the Lewinsky scandal, those who are already familiar with Hillary’s name due to the current “Server-gate” and Benghazi, Clinton’s hopes could rest on recapturing the college-age/entry-level grad voting bloc, who are tired and angry at the GOP’s constant repugnance towards women and overall intransigence in the area of jobs and domestic policy.

With the GOP likely to attack her early and often in primaries, between now and the fall of 2016, if Clinton can successfully distance herself from her own past, then there is a good chance she can make some history of her own.