Hillary Clinton says she will stay out of the presidential race next year but indicates she might run in 2008, according to an interview with a German magazine.
Bunte magazine pressed the New York senator as to why she has not entered the current campaign.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D.-N.Y. |
Clinton replied she was happy with her job, although she has been told people are disappointed she is not running.
“I know. Well, perhaps I’ll do it next time around,” she said.
Speculation Clinton will run in 2004 continues despite her repeated denials.
Democratic voters favor her by a wide margin over the slate of nine leading candidates, according to a Newsweek poll in September.
Some day the U.S. will have a female president, she hopes, but added, it is up to women to show they can do the job.
Clinton explained how she has traded roles with her husband.
“It is actually a kind of job rotation,” she said. “First, Bill focused on his career, now it’s my turn. Bill supports me and gives me tips. He’s my best adviser, as I tried to be for him when he was fulfilling political office.”
As WorldNetDaily reported, a close friend and adviser to Sen. Clinton told Newsweek Hillary may not enter the primaries, but she has not given up hope of being the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.
Asked if she plans to compete for the nomination, the adviser reportedly said: “That depends on what you mean by ‘get into the race.'”
“The scenario, as sketched by this hard-boiled insider, calls for Clinton to make an entrance as healer and unifier at the end of the primary season in May or June in the unlikely – but not impossible – event that none of the existing contenders has amassed a majority of the convention delegates,” reports Newsweek.
Clinton headlined an important party fund-raiser in Iowa this month, further fueling speculation.
Trying to dismiss questions about the presidential race, the senator’s communications director, Joe Householder, insisted Clinton accepted the invitation to help raise money for the Democratic Party in Iowa.
“As first lady and as a senator, she’s always been willing to go anywhere that she’s asked to go to help Democrats raise the resources they need to be competitive,” Householder said, according to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.
But national pollster John Zogby saw Clinton’s appearance in Iowa, which kicks off the race for the party nomination with its caucus in January, as a “wonderful tease” for a 2004 or 2008 candidacy.
“I think, you know, the woman doth protest too much,” Zogby said, according to the Courier. “But hey, why not. It never hurts to have people talking about you.”
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