2007

"I'M IN"

Jan. 20: Hillary Rodham Clinton announces she's running for president from a perch on her living room couch. "Let the conversation begin," she tells voters in a videotaped message posted on her Web site. "I have a feeling it's going to be very interesting."

THE MONEY CHASE

April 15: Turns out Clinton's not the only one with the dollars to make a race of it. She and Barack Obama release numbers showing they both raised about $26 million in the first three months of year. By year's end, Obama will surpass Clinton in the fundraising race, and both of them will have blown through $80 million.

WHO'S INEVITABLE?

Nov. 26: Despite surging interest in Obama, Clinton keeps up the illusion that her claim to the Democratic nomination is inevitable. "It will be me," she tells CBS's Katie Couric. Clinton predicts the finish line "will probably be midnight West Coast time on Feb. 5."

2008

UH-OH

Jan. 3: Clinton places third in Iowa's leadoff caucuses, trailing Obama and John Edwards. Maybe that secret memo from a Clinton aide advising her to skip Iowa wasn't such a bad idea.

"MY OWN VOICE"

Jan 7: With Obama surging after his Iowa win, Clinton chokes up with emotion as she tells New Hampshire voters, "This is very personal for me. It's not just political. It's not just public." She goes on to pull out a surprise victory over Obama in New Hampshire, declaring: "I found my own voice."

BILL'S HIT JOB

Jan. 23: Bill Clinton's full-throttle defense of his wife is a case of overkill. (He complains that Obama did a "hit job" on him.) The poisoned atmosphere helps cement an Obama victory in South Carolina.

PONYING UP

Feb. 5: Super Tuesday is a split decision: Obama wins the popular vote in 13 states, Clinton wins nine plus American Samoa. After the dust settles, Clinton reveals that she loaned her campaign $5 million.

NOT SO INEVITABLE

Mid-late February: Clinton suffers a string of 11 straight primary and caucus losses; Obama overtakes her in the delegate race and never relinquishes his lead.

INCOMING

March 17: Clinton recounts how she braved sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia as first lady. Problem is, that never happened. "I made a mistake," she says. "It proves I'm human."

BIG-STATE STATEMENT

March 4: Clinton proves her staying power by winning the popular vote in Texas and Ohio, but it still doesn't make much of a dent in Obama's delegate advantage.

THE CHALLENGE

April 1: Clinton, looking for working-class votes in Pennsylvania, challenges Obama to a bowl-off. "A bowling night. Right here in Pennsylvania. The winner take all," she says. "I'll even spot him two frames." April Fool's. She goes on to win Pennsylvania's primary.

DEJA VU

May 8: Pressing on after a disappointing loss in North Carolina and an underwhelming victory in Indiana, Clinton fends off the latest calls for her to drop out of the race as "deja vu all over again. I think we ought to keep this going," she tells voters in West Virginia.

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