Bill Clinton helping prepare Hillary's 2016 presidential campaign as 'backstage adviser'

Former president, Bill Clinton says he will assist his wife as she prepares to announce her 2016 presidential campaign.

"I think it's important, and Hillary does too, that she go out there as if she's never run for anything before and establish her connection with the voters," Bill Clinton told Town and Country magazine. "And that my role should primarily be as a backstage adviser to her until we get much, much closer to the election."

During Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, her husband frequently introduced her at rallies, made phone calls asking for donations, and praised her at his own events.

Former first lady Hillary Clinton bids to become the first female president of the US when she launches her campaign on Sunday.

The former secretary of state who lost the 2008 nomination to Barack Obama will engage in conversations with voters about the economic needs of middle-class families and young voters.

Hillary's opponent

Should Clinton win the Democrat nomination, she will face the winner of a Republican primary field that could have up to 12 candidates.

They include former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is expected to announce his campaign in Miami on Monday 13 April.

According to sources close to Clinton, she will post a video on social media before turning her attention to early-voting primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, according to AP.

In Clinton's first presidential campaign in 2007, she also launched with a video, followed by a rally in Des Moines: "I'm running for president, and I'm in it to win it," she claimed bullishly.

A more human Hillary

This time, Hillary Clinton's campaign is expected to emphasize on making a personal connection. Clinton's supporters say this will show a more nurturing, empathetic side to the would-be president, along with her sense of humour.

Jay Jacobs, a former New York Democratic Party chairman said he thinks the events will present Clinton "as she is known by people who are close to her: as a very warm, genuine, thoughtful, certainly intelligent, regular person".

"There's been so much that we've seen that seems to create an image, by the press and by others, those who are looking to derail her, but now the voters are going to hear from Hillary," Jacobs said in an interview with the Washington Post.

David Axelrod, who helped lead Obama's campaign that torpedoed Hillary Clinton's first presidential run said: "Last time, they launched as a big juggernaut cloaked in the veil of inevitability and at 20,000 feet.

"There was a tremendous backlash to that. It is imperative for her to go out, to meet people where they live, to make her case, to deliver a message, to listen to what they have to say and to ask for their votes."

The official announcement that Hillary Clinton intends to run as the Democrat's presidential candidate is expected later today (12 April).