Big-bang campaign launch: Hillary Clinton sets a date for 13 June

After weeks of small-scale, small-town events with “everyday Americans,” Hillary Clinton has set a date for the first major campaign rally of her 2016 presidential run. [caption id=“attachment_1371091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hillary Clinton in this file photo. AP[/caption] “Get excited: Hillary will be making her official campaign announcement speech at the first big event of her campaign on June 13th,” her staff tweeted on Thursday. Aides to the Democratic frontrunner did not say where the rally would take place. The announcement signals a change of pace and a change of tactic for a campaign that has struggled to get going amid a hail of Republican-hurled brickbats. Clinton has spent weeks at meetings with small business owners in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, which vote early in the party nomination. Meanwhile, her political foes have busied themselves painting her as out of touch and just a little bit shifty. They have pilloried her charitable work with the Clinton Foundation, paid speeches, private email accounts and her record as secretary of state. All that in an effort to feed doubts about the former first lady’s common touch and to eat into her massive lead in the polls. Early surveys put her well ahead of any challenger for the Democratic nomination and with an edge against most Republican rivals. Clinton will hope to solidify that support and gee up her core supporters and donors for the long road ahead. Rallies are the cornerstone of American political campaigns, festooned with the button pins, bunting and banners that are quintessential of the razzmatazz of the trail. AFP