With her release of a video on Sunday announcing her candidacy for president in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to chart the way forward. But the script and images also evoked a wave of memories from her past campaigns. Over instant messages just after 3 p.m., two New York Times correspondents analyzed the announcement video: Patrick Healy, who covered Mrs. Clinton’s 2007-08 bid for the Democratic nomination, and Maggie Haberman, who began covering Mrs. Clinton during her campaign to be a United States senator of New York in 2000. Here, lightly edited, is their full chat.



Pat: Hi Maggie! So eight years later, Hillary Rodham Clinton is announcing for president via video again. But this one is pretty different from the one in 2007, when she was on a couch, talking a great deal about herself, George W. Bush, and especially the Iraq war.

Maggie: Hi Patrick!

You’re not kidding — Hillary Clinton is almost the Zelig of this rather upbeat video.

She shows up at the end of a very peppy video, with her voice sounding like she’s trying to strike a positive note.