Clinton launched her career one year out of law school when she helped Congress investigate Watergate charges against then-President Richard M. Nixon. She later gained partner status at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark., as husband Bill pursued a career in state politics that eventually made Hillary the governor's wife.

But Clinton's failed efforts as head of the President's Health Care Task Force--in addition to growing attacks over the Whitewater land deal and Vincent Foster's suicide--sent her back to the policy making drawing table.

Since then, Clinton has been slowly launching miniature versions of her original campaign. While the buzzwords of "health-care reform" may not dominate the White House agenda anymore, she hopes to use her original work to over-haul portions of the health care system, beginning with a plan to mandate insurance for all children.

"She's a very savvy political actor," Skocpol says. "She's had a lot of experience in figuring out how to move forward even when the political winds are blowing against her."

"She knows that universal health care is at the core of any reforms in the area of children's welfare," Skocpol says. "But her role as the President's wife constrains her from making any policy innovations."

Brazelton says Clinton is the voice behind much of the family welfare legislation of her husband's administration. The author of 26 books and a syndicated columnist, Brazelton criticized President Clinton and other lawmakers in 1997 for adopting welfare reform that adversely affected the nation's children.

Still, Brazelton describes himself as "a consistent admirer" of the First Lady.

"She helped bring in [the Family and Medical Leave Act] in 1995 to show how much [the administration] cared about families," Brazelton says. "It only affected 5 percent of families, but it made every CEO in the country stop and think about what they were doing in terms of family policy."

Brazelton also credits Hillary Clinton with the progress that the Kennedy-Hatch bill and the Kerry-Bond bill have made in Congress. The former legislative proposal seeks to provide health insurance for children in low-income working families; the latter seeks to provide health and education funding for young children.

"After the health care problem, everyone thinks she failed but I'm not so sure," he says. "She gave us a chance to do something about our medical system. If we don't do something now, we're missing a rare opportunity."

Both Skocpol and Brazelton point to Clinton's 1996 best-selling book It Takes a Village as evidence of the mainstream appeal of the First Lady's ideas. And both say Clinton's platform was misportrayed by her conservative opposition.

"She didn't say government raises children. She said communities do. I think people and parents know it's true," Skocpol says. "Her ideas are good, solid, American common sense."

Brazelton says the Republican Party sought to discredit Clinton because it felt threatened by the popularity of her family and community-oriented values.

"I think that when the Republican party rises up about something like that, they hit below the belt," Brazelton says. "They're all scared of her because she's so smart and because she's a woman. They try to muzzle her in Washington, but it doesn't work."

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