“Their policies are totally different but they are both perceived as very tough,” said Terry McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman. “She is strong on foreign policy. People have got to know you are going to keep them safe.”

Clinton, 59, used her website to announce that she was taking the first step of her campaign by forming a presidential exploratory committee. “I’m in. And I’m in to win,” she said.

It made the New York senator the instant frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. “She has the name recognition, the money, the glitz, she’s got it all,” McAuliffe said.

If she wins, she will return to the White House where she spent eight years as first lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency from 1993-2001.

McAuliffe predicted a rough campaign. “She is going to fight for herself and she is going to have people around her who will fight,” he said.

“They are going to play mean, nasty and dirty on the other side. You don’t walk into a knife fight without adequate gloves.”

The Clinton campaign intends to paint the Republican nominee as President George W Bush’s political heir, particularly over the war in Iraq. “George Bush is going to be on the ticket whether they like it or not,” McAuliffe added.

Clinton said she would talk to voters about “how to bring the right end to the war in Iraq and restore respect for America around the world”. She also hopes to appeal to women voters in their twenties and thirties.

Clinton faces strong competition from Barack Obama, the charismatic but inexperienced 45-year-old Illinois senator. The race is already being billed “the magic v the machine”.

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