Bill on Hil: It's a maybe. His hint she may run in '04 shocks Dems.
Amazing, isn't it, how Democrats still hang on Bill Clinton's every utterance? Simply because he didn't answer the question with an unqualified "NO!", tongues are wagging.
Clinton loyalists were startled yesterday to hear former President Bill Clinton suggest that his wife hasn't made up her mind yet about running for the White House.
Asked in Monterey, Calif., on Tuesday about chatter that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) might join the crowded Democratic field, the former President hinted that it remained an open question. "That's really a decision for her to make," he said, according to The Californian newspaper.
Clinton said his wife was being urged to run by supporters in spite of her commitment to serve out her six-year Senate term, the newspaper said.
The former President's statement tantalized Democrats who have heard the senator say repeatedly she will be on the presidential sidelines next year.
"He's clearly not discouraging speculation that she could be in the race in 2004," said former New York State Democratic chairwoman Judith Hope, who is close to the former First Lady but is supporting ex-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, who moderated the Monterey event, said the ex-President's remarks should be taken "at face value. In the end, she's going to make the decision."
"She's getting a lot of people talking," said Panetta.
Indeed. And she would probably make a better candidate than most of the nine...er, ten...dwarves. Not only that, Hillary Clinton as a candidate would certainly energize a lot of people on both sides of the political fence. I can almost hear Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson screaming in an apoplectic fit about Hillary's "feminazi" agenda or some such nonsense.
Relax, y'all. Bill is prone to philosophical wanderings, and Hillary will be the one making the decision, anyway. Keep your powder dry until it's needed, willya??
