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Hillary not till 2008 { August 29 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1118-2003Aug29.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1118-2003Aug29.html
Sen. Clinton Dismisses 2004 Speculation
By MARC HUMBERT
The Associated Press
Friday, August 29, 2003; 5:15 PM
ALBANY, N.Y. - A drop in President Bush's poll numbers has increased speculation about New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton jumping into the 2004 Democratic presidential race - a notion the former first lady rejected Friday.
"I am absolutely ruling it out," Clinton said during a visit to the New York State Fair in Syracuse, N.Y. She had insisted in recent months that she will not consider entering the race for president this year even if that is what some Democrats want.
Fueling the speculation has been talk of a fall visit to Iowa, site of the nomination's kickoff caucuses Jan. 19, but no confirmation yet from her staff on whether Clinton will go.
A meeting of her fund-raising team next month is expected to include at least some discussion of presidential politics - more likely the 2008 race, according to some familiar with planning for the session.
And, there is her own campaign Web site, which includes a section called "Hill Notes" - a sampling of supportive e-mail messages assembled by her staff. On a recent day, seven of the first 10 messages urged a presidential run, or alluded to the possibility.
"Please run for president in 2004. We need you," pleaded one from "Josh B."
On Friday, the Web site contained similar messages including one from "Kim C." that read: "I would love nothing more than to see you in the White House - the sooner the better ... Go get 'em, girl!"
Asked about the messages Friday, Patti Solis Doyle, executive director of HILLPAC, Clinton's political action committee, said: "We receive many e-mails in a day, Friends of Hillary posts two or three a day."
Clinton has the celebrity and the fund-raising prowess to overwhelm the crowded Democratic field of nine candidates, even late in the campaign. She has not ruled out a run in 2008.
Friends and advisers maintain that she has no interest in 2004. Calling the speculation "unfounded," Harold Ickes, a top political adviser and former White House deputy chief of staff, said simply, "She ain't going to run."
A spokesman for the former first lady also sought to dampen the talk, at least for 2004.
"Senator Clinton has repeatedly said that she will serve out her full, six-year term," said Philippe Reines.
Not everyone is convinced.
"To the extent that Bush's numbers go down - and they've been going down - her consideration of 2004 has to go up," said Maurice Carroll, head of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
A 2004 Democratic victory by another candidate would likely delay any Clinton run for the White House until 2012, when she should be 65 years old.
Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who worked on former President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign, said that while there will be pressure on her to run, she probably won't because Bush does not look beatable, at least not now.
"There are those in the party who might like to see her go, so she can get knocked off (by Bush), opening up a different field in 2008," Sheinkopf said. "She is the big bear in the woods, and so long as she's in the way, anybody who wants to run (in 2008) can't consider it."
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AP Political Writer Ron Fournier in Washington and Associated Press Writer William Kates in Syracuse, N.Y., contributed to this report.
© 2003 The Associated Press
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