Hillary Clinton's recent radical

facial transformation began in New Hampshire,

shortly before she was due to share

a platform with her Democrat competitors

for the American presidency

Small wonder she was in a panic

There she was, aged 59...

What was she to do? In order to keep up, she felt,

something definitive was necessary:

she appeared on the platform looking

at least 15 years younger.

How is not yet clear, though Botox has been mentioned,

along with cosmetic surgery and

the deft handiwork of make-up artist Kriss Soterion,

who says only that she applied

Clinton's face powder with a new technique

The changing face of Hillary

Hillary Clinton's recent radical facial transformation began in New Hampshire, shortly before she was due to share a platform with her Democrat competitors for the American presidency.

Small wonder she was in a panic. There she was, aged 59, sharing a stage and the harsh glare of television camera lights with two men who have superficial but powerful advantages over her.

At 45 Barack Obama is - and looks - significantly younger. Youth and energy are the watchwords of his campaign. John Edwards, tall and well-dressed, is unfailingly telegenic. He looks what he says he is: "A nice guy."

What was she to do? In order to keep up, she felt, something definitive was necessary: she appeared on the platform looking at least 15 years younger.

How is not yet clear, though Botox has been mentioned, along with cosmetic surgery and the deft handiwork of make-up artist Kriss Soterion, who worked for former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.

Soterion says only that she applied Clinton's face powder with a new technique.

Since she ran for and achieved the New York Senate seat in 2001, Clinton has never looked better. This is partly, no doubt, because she has the glow and confidence of a woman in her prime.

Her daughter Chelsea is grown up, and is a proven public testament to model parenting.

Her husband, Bill, who hogged the limelight for so many years as president, has steered well clear, letting his wife finally dominate their professional life in Washington and New York.

He is usually seen on his own (except for bodyguards) at ballet or theatre openings. He has lost weight, dresses smartly in the mode of the rich man he has become, and oozes magnetism. He doesn't want to leave a party. Most of the unattached women present don't want him to leave, either.

Hillary, on the other hand, has been getting on with weighty matters of government: even New York's conservatives have been won over by her charm, diligence and intellect.

No-one has spoken much about her appearance - which means she must have finally got it right, alleged Botox and all.

After all those years in the White House, when people carped about her limp hair, tacky Alice bands, the ill-fitting suits, the dumpy figure - all of which highlighted the disparity in attractiveness between husband and wife, a matter that acquired huge political significance towards the end of the Clinton presidency - Hillary got the point and smartened up.

As junior senator for New York she shed the surplus pounds, wore suits that said "serious" but not "ugly", and clearly had a hairdresser in tow.

The softer, fuller waves have paid dividends, making her look approachable and feminine whereas previously critics saw her as a humourless, sexless tyrant, whose froideur had sent poor Bill into the softer, more generous folds of Monica Lewinsky.

The person in charge of all this was Mandy Grunwald, who has been Hillary's PR consultant since the Clintons' White House days.

So, even though it's clear why she may have needed a makeover, why the sudden need for change? The apparent sudden desire for such a dramatic rejuvenation?

I deduce that, in part, Clinton's effort for "retouching" signifies that the Obama threat is more worrisome than she has let on. Nothing is so dangerous for the older woman as the younger man, and an overtly physical one at that.

I also suspect that she is vain. But the Botox brouhaha must seem like arrows from pygmies to her campaign. She's deflected far greater political challenges with astonishing imperviousness.

Hillary is on a roll. Recent polling figures showing her lead as favourite to win the Democrat nomination has actually increased to 39 per cent since March, when she was at 34 per cent.

By contrast, Obama's novelty has worn off, taking him down from 31 per cent to 19 per cent. Edwards - the vice-presidential candidate on John Kerry's ticket in 2004 - hovers around 15 per cent.

Yet this rise in popularity comes despite the fact that of the three chief Democrat candidates, Hillary's political views are apparently the least fashionable.

In a country that is now said to be largely anti-war, Hillary stands out as not having apologised for voting for the invasion of Iraq in 2002. Nor has she hopped on the green bandwagon.

Hillary's dogged sticking to the middle ground is what has won her plaudits as "surprisingly bipartisan" in New York - and it's a reputation that has worked.

It is what the voters of America will think about when they go to the polls.

That is Hillary's strong point: if anything, her efforts to look good might engender sympathy, highlighting the difficulties of being experienced and being a woman.

Unfortunately for a woman who is soon to enter her sixties, pretending not to care about looking good is difficult and wearisome, not to mention unfair.

Hillary's male peers can pretend they didn't notice what they put on in the morning. She can't. They can pretend they weren't paying attention when they got their hair styled. She can't.

Hillary knows the truth no-one will actually say aloud: just how important looks are. In politics, as in life, good looks say more about you than that you simply have good genes.

I suspect Hillary Clinton has been having Botox for years.

However, the difficulty with Botox is that its effects wear off over time. And dermatologists can sometimes deliberately inject too much, knowing that their client will be pleased about six weeks after the appointment, but might look rather too like a caricature of Jack Nicholson's frozen-featured Joker immediately afterwards.

Maybe - and I speculate here - this is what happened in New Hampshire.

Poor Hillary! But if this is the worst her political rivals can concoct, then I'd say she's a good bet come the primaries. Having Botox these days in America is considered as run-of-the-mill as eating Cheerios for breakfast.

Meanwhile, Obama's youth carries with it the charge of inexperience, and you can bet Hillary will play that card when she needs it.

And, with her new good looks, she'll slip her ace on to the gaming table with the coquettish confidence of a woman who knows her cleverness is augmented by her appearance.

Maybe it's a trick that will work: after all, this is an era when money still may not be able to buy you love - but it certainly can get you a decent dermatologist.

Vicky Ward @ The Scotsman