Can Hillary be 'America's champion?' Clinton video targets diverse coalition that helped Obama win

Hillary Clinton's long-anticipated announcement that she's running for the US presidency may not have said much about policy, but it delivered an unambiguous message about the voters and a major theme she hopes will carry her to the White House.

Clinton does not appear until two-thirds of the way through a two-minute, 20-second video released on Sunday.

Instead, her campaign presented a montage of the modern Democratic electoral coalition: two young mothers, one talking about moving to a new home with a kindergarten-age child, the other about going back to work after five years of child-rearing; a pair of Latino brothers planning to start a business; a gay male couple about to marry; a black couple expecting a child; a young Asian-American woman preparing to graduate from college; an older white woman talking about her plans to retire; a white man starting a new job.

Each of the characters speaks about their plans before Clinton appears to declare that: "I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president."

"Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top," she says. "Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion."