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She will want to focus 2+ years (2006-07) mainly on fundraising. Lieberman, Edwards, Kerry, etc. all spent 2002 (3 years before 2004 election) raising money. They are all doing it as sitting Senators and they are barely raising enough $$ to compete with themselves for the Dem 2004 Pres. Primary. Bush will have $$tens-of-millions of hard-money more than the eventual Dem candidate.

2008 will be an open seat race for the President. That means the GOP will have a fractured financial base. the GOP candidates will probably outraise the Dem candidates, but there will be no single $100 million GOP gorilla dominating all the $$. Waiting until 2008 will give her a MUCH better chance at winning.

She will raise as much as she can in her Senate account 'gearing up' for a 2006 Senate re-election campaign, (using money designated for a Senate campaign that 'needs' a nationwide donor base), then she will 'have' to announce in late 2005/early 2006 that the nation 'needs' her. She will spend the rest of 2006 and 2007 using that network paid for by contributions to her 'Senate' campaign raising money to win the Dem primary in early 2008.

More simply put, she gets more bang for her buck if I contribute the max Fed $$ to her Senate campaign, and the campaign uses that for legitimate expenses (paying fundraising consultants, buying direct mail and direct marketing phone lists of donors), then I can also turn around and contribute the max Fed $$ to her presidential campaign.