NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW: Hillary Clinton - New York Senator
July 25 2004 - 12:36PM
PR Newswire (US)
NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW: Hillary Clinton - New York Senator 'I'm Never
Going to Get Out of Scrutiny,' Says Clinton on Whether She'd
Hesitate to Run for President to Avoid Scrutiny of Public Life NEW
YORK, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- When asked whether she might not
hesitate to run for president to avoid having her private life once
again held up to public scrutiny, New York Senator Hillary Clinton
tells Newsweek, "I'm never going to get out of scrutiny." Clinton
also fails to knock down a comment former President Bill Clinton
made recently on "Good Morning America" about his wife's political
future: "She's now where I was in 1988. When I didn't run [for
president] in 1988, I thought I would never get another chance to
run because I really thought the Democrats were going to win...So
we'll just see." Responding to her husband's quote, Clinton says,
"That's a statement of the obvious; you never know in life." And
asked to describe her relationship with her husband, Clinton tells
Newsweek "It's the same as it's been for 32 or 33 years." (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040725/NYSU008 ) If fellow
Democrat John Kerry should win the White House, he would upset any
plans Clinton has of running for president herself in four or even
eight years, reports Contributing Editor Melinda Henneberger in the
August 2 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, July 26). Her
situation these days, as one Democrat who knows her well tells
Newsweek, "is that whether or not she ever gets to run for
president is in the balance and she's on the sidelines. It's like
she's the second-string quarterback." In that position, "Do you
want your team to win the championship, or do you want the guy
[who's in the game] to get injured? It's certainly a fair
question." But in her interview with Newsweek, Clinton rails
against President George W. Bush's efforts to undo the Clinton
legacy and leaves little doubt that she is pulling for her team.
"I'd like some time off to sit on a beach or take a hike, but I
don't think the Republicans ever rest!" she says. "The president is
giving up his vacation, so we know it's serious." She continues: "I
do get agitated and energized. But I don't want to wake up on Nov.
3 and think I haven't done everything I can...And I'm wild that
there may be more problems in the electoral system." Clinton is on
the road for Kerry because "she's a real trooper and a real
professional," says New York Rep. Charles Rangel, who was irate
when the Kerry campaign initially neglected to offer Senator
Clinton a speaking role at the convention. "I don't think she was
an early supporter, but she's with him now, and they need her...she
cannot be ignored in national politics," he says. Though friends
say Senator Clinton was not happy when it seemed as though she
would not be speaking, she says that's not the case: "I've said
from the beginning, I'll do whatever I'm asked." Of the idea that
Clinton herself sees the current ticket as her future competition,
she insists, "People keep imputing meaning to me I don't put out."
Clinton says of Kerry, "I'm delighted he's going to be the
president. He's the perfect man for this moment, a serious man for
a serious time." (Read Newsweek's news releases at
http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/. Click "Pressroom.")
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040725/NYSU008 DATASOURCE:
Newsweek CONTACT: Kirsty McDonald of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4078 Web
site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/
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