Hillary Clinton Possibility Still Circulating

The story that Hillary Clinton might give up her bid for the presidency to become Senate Majority Leader if the Democrats win in the next couple of years is still circulating according to Reader DK at Talking Points Memo who points to this article in The Times (UK):

FRIENDS of Hillary Clinton have been whispering the unthinkable. Despite her status as the runaway frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president, some of her closest advisers say she might opt out of the White House race and seek to lead her party in the Senate.

The former first lady longs to return to the White House with husband Bill as consort. Only last week she told television viewers America would be led by a woman one day. “Stay tuned,” she said.

First, however, she has to win the election. Some Democratic party elders — the American equivalent of the Tories’ “men in grey suits” — say Clinton may back out of the race of her own volition.

“I would not be surprised if she were to decide that the best contribution she can make to her country is to forget about being president and become a consensus-maker in the Senate,” said a leading Democratic party insider. “She believes there is no trust between the two political sides and that we can’t function as a democracy without it.”

As senator for New York, Clinton has forged alliances across party lines with leading Republicans such as Senator John McCain and Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives. In the eyes of the electorate, however, she is a potentially divisive figure.

I'm not entirely sure why Hillary is forging alliances with Newt Gingrich, who increasingly places himself on the far right with talk about World War Three. But the other alliances might be useful depending on how much she can wean Republicans from their money machine and focus on real issues. Although she would undoubtedly make a fine Majority Leader, the fact that the rumors are still circulating suggests it's something of a diversion. While she runs for reelection in New York, the rumor gives something for people to talk about besides Hillary's sometimes odd positions on the issues such as her longtime support of the war in Iraq. Such rumors make her appear to be a uniter while allowing her a kind of recess to reposition herself for a presidential run once she wins reelection in November.