Of the three remaining Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for president, Hillary Clinton is clearly the most qualified. She has articulated a vision for the country that is both progressive and pragmatic and has demonstrated the ability and tenacity to achieve the ambitious goals she has set for herself and the nation.

She enjoyed great success during two terms as the U.S. senator from New York and improved America’s standing abroad during four pressure-packed years as secretary of state.

The people of New Hampshire know Hillary Clinton well and supported her during her previous run for president in 2008. Granite State Democrats and independent voters, having seen and heard Clinton with their own eyes and ears, have rejected the decades of distortions peddled by her political opponents. We know the real Hillary Clinton and we admire and respect her.

New Hampshire first got to know Clinton during her husband’s successful presidential runs in the 1990s. We continued to follow her career as first lady and as the two-term U.S. senator from New York. We respected her work following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the care she took getting health benefits for first responders sickened in the aftermath. We admired her leadership in the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter pay Equity Act, the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama.

In 2008, Sen. Clinton made her case to voters in the New Hampshire presidential primary, and she won the contest, narrowly defeating Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois.

Obama rebounded from his New Hampshire loss and went on to win the presidential election. He quickly appointed Clinton secretary of state, recognizing his rival’s intelligence, impeccable work ethic and values.

The four years Clinton spent as our nation’s top diplomat, from 2009 to 2013, were volatile, with crises across the globe. She is credited as the architect of the crippling sanctions against Iran that led to the recent nuclear deal. She brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. She was on the front lines of the tragedies and triumphs of the Arab Spring, learning hard and valuable lessons. Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, said she “ran the State Department in the most effective way that I’ve ever seen.”

Kissinger is not alone among Republicans who praise Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, until recently a presidential contender, called Clinton, “one of the most effective secretary of states, greatest ambassadors for the American people that I have known in my lifetime.”

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republicans’ 2008 presidential nominee, said “Secretary Clinton is admired and respected around the world.”

Of all the candidates interviewed by our editorial board, both Republican and Democrat, Clinton was by far the most fluent in world affairs. As president there would be no learning curve. She would be in full command of the geopolitical challenges facing our nation from day one. And given the concerns about global instability and terrorism we place a high value on this competence.

Clinton’s critics portray her as highly partisan but during our editorial board meeting she spent a great deal of time complimenting Republican colleagues and seemed to truly enjoy sharing stories about finding common ground.

She praised President George W. Bush for his efforts fighting AIDS in Africa, noting his PEPFAR project (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) “saved tens of millions of people from dying from AIDS.” She talked about the support Bush committed to the state of New York following the 9/11 terrorist attacks “and he stuck to his word despite a lot of efforts to undo it.”

She spoke of working with former House Majority Leader Tom “The Hammer” DeLay to pass comprehensive foster care and adoption reform, because she knew that he shared her passion in that area.

When Clinton saw a chance to improve relations with Burma she approached then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell because she knew of his admiration for Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation’s embattled human rights leader. Together, Clinton and McConnell made progress opening up this country that had been closed to the United States for decades.

“What I did when I ran and was elected to the Senate twice, what I did as secretary of state, what I do when I’m in a position of responsibility is I’m able to bring people together across party lines,” Clinton told our editorial board.

“The president has to always be welcoming and embracing and deal with differences that are affecting the lives of Americans,” Clinton said. “So that’s my goal. I feel it very personally and strongly and that’s what I would try to do.”

It is safe to say that not since Dwight D. Eisenhower has there been a non-incumbent candidate seeking the presidency who is better known than Hillary Clinton.

As first lady she led the White House’s effort to implement health care reform and she took a beating as vested interests pushed back against “Hillarycare.”

But Clinton proved resilient. The defeat taught her valuable lessons and she put that knowledge to work in her husband’s second term, working with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy and Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which insured millions of previously uninsured children.

She believes the lessons learned from her efforts to pass health care reform helped the Obama administration in its efforts to pass the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

If elected, Clinton said she’ll “build on and fix the Affordable Care Act,” which she calls “an historic achievement.”

“I want to get out-of-pocket costs down,” she said. “I have a plan to bring prescription costs down, and I don’t think we need to rip it up and start over.”

Clinton has published plans that are available for scrutiny on just about every challenge facing the nation today.

From national security to defeating ISIS; from reducing the cost of college to criminal justice reform; from climate change and green energy to cyber security and job creation; from gun safety to women’s health; Alzheimer’s and autism; Clinton has thought deeply about all these issues and has put forward pragmatic plans that her years of experience tell her can make it through Congress.

Hillary Clinton began her career as a young lawyer out of Yale working for the Children’s Defense Fund and she has spent her life fighting for children, for families, for the middle class.

As one of our editorial board members quipped, “In a dogfight, I’d want Hillary Clinton on my side.”

America faces great challenges. Whether this is the most important election of our lives only time will tell, but it would be hard to overstate the threats and opportunities facing our nation today.

Clinton's vision is bold and comprehensive. Government would create thousands of jobs by leading a transition off of fossil fuels. Everyone, rich or poor, could more easily go to college and get health care. These initiatives will bring a more sustainable future and broad based prosperity. But unlike her opponent, Clinton's plans are not all centrally planned and run by the government. They are collaborations: college students work to help pay for their education; energy companies have incentives to change for the good while a safety net is built for displaced coal-state workers. In the spirit of John F. Kennedy, government leads the nation toward big goals and taps the aspiration and ingenuity of individuals and the private sector. This is how America makes its greatest progress.

Clinton is by far the most qualified candidate seeking the Democratic nomination. If elected, she will be an outstanding president. We enthusiastically endorse Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.

Seacoast Media Group’s endorsements reflect the majority view of its 10-member editorial board, which includes three community advisers. In New Hampshire, SMG publishes the Portsmouth Herald, Foster’s Daily Democrat, Exeter News-Letter, Hampton Union and Rochester Times.