Hillary Clinton airs 1st campaign ads as competition heats up

WASHINGTON — Facing increased competition from within her own party, Hillary Rodham Clinton is spending $2 million airing the first television ads of her presidential race in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

The ads, which start Tuesday and run statewide, focus on Clinton’s work on behalf of families and her relationship with her late mother — central themes of her early campaign. The spots are part of an effort to reintroduce one of the country’s biggest political celebrities as a progressive fighter who understands the struggles of average Americans.

“After law school, she could have gone to a big firm but instead went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund.