“If Secretary Clinton runs, she’ll be the nominee — the first female nominee of either party,” said Stephanie Cutter, a former top adviser to the Obama White House and campaign. “That breaks through the ‘old’ tagline that the Republican geniuses are cooking up because, if handled correctly, women of all ages will absolutely be inspired by that. I don’t recommend that be the totality of her message or platform, but there’s no way to hide that fact and it certainly shouldn’t be discounted. “

(PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton’s world tour, 2009-2012)

It’s the type of “first” campaign that was a hallmark of the Barack Obama 2008 effort, even if he didn’t overtly run that way. Clinton ran a campaign that was focused primarily on experience and strength in 2008, after the pollster for her poll-driven campaign found that her gender could hurt more than help…

Jeremy Bird, who led the Obama campaign’s field organization said that the idea of a Madam President would be “inspiring to a lot of people.”

“The energy that would come if she decides to do that would be cross-generational, and cross-gender,” Bird said.