Hillary Rodham Clinton officially joined the race for the 2016 Democratic Presidential ticket on Sunday. The former 2008 Presidential hopeful made the big announcement online in a video titled "Getting Started" posted on YouTube.

"Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times," stated Clinton in the video. "But the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top.

"Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion."

Judging from the announcement -- the candidate doesn't speak or arrive on screen until about two-thirds of the way through the video -- Clinton is seeking to strike a more populist and identifiable tone with her candidacy this time around, clearly basing her message around the voters she hopes to persuade.

By contrast, in Clinton's 2008 run, The New York Times noted this week, her campaign tended to downplay her gender and instead demonstrate her toughness for the presidency, only changing strategies to better connect with voters, and especially women, late in the Democratic Primary season.

Her official declaration as a candidate for the Presidential Election in 2016 unofficially sets off the long road to the Democratic primary -- a road she's currently traveling alone as the front-runner; The Clinton campaign undoubtedly hopes to avoid what happened the last time around, when upstart Barack Obama famously upset Clinton's seemingly open path to the presidency.

But as Obama has entered his last two years in office, no other Democrats so far have signaled -- as loudly as Clinton and her surrogates -- their intentions to run for president.

If Clinton clinches the Democratic nomination many months from now, it would be the first time for a female candidate to be nominated by a major U.S. political party for President.

As in 2008, Clinton enters the race with several notable advantages, including global name recognition, years of experience in the Senate and as Secretary of State under the Obama administration, a strong base of Democratic support, particularly with women, and the political connections and funding necessary for a modern nationwide political campaign.

Republican opponents undoubtedly see some of those advantages as weak points, though, and will seek to point out as many mistakes, misjudgments, or suspect connections in Clinton's long public career. For example, details that recently came to light about Clinton's use of a private email server for official State Department business while Secretary of State have arguably resulted in lower levels of trust for Clinton versus Rand Paul in two out of three swing states, according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Thursday.

In any case, Clinton's entry into the ring is likely to catalyze the field of likely candidates on the Republican side, where only Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul -- out of an anticipated group of as many as a dozen GOP hopefuls, according to The New York Times -- have officially declared their candidacy so far. Senator Marco Rubio, for one example, is expected to declare his candidacy on Monday.

Meanwhile, few, if any, Democratic primary opponents seem likely to challenge Clinton's run so far. That doesn't discount the chance of another Democratic opponent trying however, as the 2016 presidential race is just beginning -- especially now that Clinton has officially announced she's in.