Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton today starts her campaign to win a Senate seat in New York next year at a farm 150 miles from Manhattan. It is the first time she has run for elective public office.
After months of rumours and counter-rumours, the First Lady has made it official. Yesterday she announced she has set up an "exploratory committee" for the Senate contest in New York.
In theory she could still pull out later this year, as the committee allows her to test the waters while raising funds. But it is hard to see the normally determined Mrs Clinton backing out after taking this plunge on the campaign trail.
The farm happens to belong to the Democratic senator Mr Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the man whose seat in the US Senate she hopes to win when he stands down next year. Naturally, Senator Moynihan will be on hand to wish her well in a campaign which will stretch over 16 months.
Her Republican opponent is expected to be Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, who will first have to win his party's primary contest. Mrs Clinton is unopposed in the Democratic party in New York. Opinion polls show Mrs Clinton and Mr Giuliani about even but this represents a fall in her ratings since reports of her seeking the Senate seat began to circulate earlier this year.
Today she begins what is being officially called her "listening tour". By the end of the summer she hopes to have visited every region of the large state, which is bigger than Ireland.
"I'm eagerly looking forward to listening to New Yorkers and hearing directly what's on their minds about the issues affecting their families," Mrs Clinton said before she filed papers for her exploratory committee.
She has opened a campaign press office in Washington several blocks from the White House and is renting a campaign headquarters near Penn Station in Manhattan.
Mrs Clinton is also house-hunting in New York amid intense media speculation on which area she will choose for her residence. She will have to establish a residence in New York at any time before the election to be eligible to run there.
Her Republican opponents are already accusing her of being a "carpet-bagger" for seeking a Senate seat in a state with which she has no family connections and where she has never lived. They are also accusing her of spending taxpayers' money on her campaign by travelling on military planes in her frequent visits to New York in recent months.
In Orlando, Florida, earlier this week, Mrs Clinton was given a rapturous reception when she spoke about her views on education before a teachers' union convention. As loudspeakers blared out the tune "New York, New York", the delegates sang along and raised signs saying "Run Hillary" and "Hillary for President 2004."
The National Education Association, which has 2.4 million members nation-wide, also gave her their highest award, called "Friend of Education". Her husband received it in 1996 but it is the first time it has been given to a First Lady.