Hillary Clinton and Her ''Scooby Van'' Hit the Road, Start Presidential Campaign in Iowa

Get the scoop on the presidential hopeful's travels

By Brett Malec Apr 13, 2015 8:59 PMTags
Hillary Clinton, Scooby, Mystery MachineYana Paskova/Getty Images; Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton has officially hit the road!

After announcing that she's running for president for her second time on Sunday, the 67-year-old former first lady began her presidential campaign earlier today. The Democratic party leader hit the road in her self-dubbed "Scooby van" Monday and headed to Monticello, Iowa from her home in Chappaqua, New York (that's a 17-hour drive!). Clinton's van was accompanied by hordes of security.

As for why Clinton calls her ride the "Scooby van," writer Daniel Halper explained in his 2014 book Clinton, Inc., "That's because Hillary and her staff objected to the customary limo the First Lady would normally use. They complained the ‘optics' weren't right for an aspiring senator who wanted to look like she was a woman of the people—and not a product of the White House."

Clinton's longtime aide Huma Abedin also recently revealed why she wanted to drive throughout the campaign as opposed to flying. "When Hillary first told us that she was ready to hit the road for Iowa, we literally looked at her and said, 'Seriously?' And she said, 'Seriously,'" Abedin told AP. "This was her idea, and she's been really excited about it since she came up with it."

Once in Iowa, Clinton was quick to take to Twitter to share pics with locals. "Road trip! Loaded the van & set off for IA. Met a great family when we stopped this afternoon. Many more to come," she wrote with a photo of a family of four.