Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton, standing outside an abandoned knitting mill that will become the
new home of the National Women's Hall of
Fame , said Thursday she hopes America is ready for its
first woman president.
"It just depends on when and if that happens," the former first lady
told ABC's "Nightline." "Stay tuned."
Clinton continued to duck
questions about whether she will run for the White House
in 2008, saying yet again she is completely focused on her re-election
this year.
But Clinton said that when it comes to a woman holding what she called
"the toughest job in the world, some day it will happen."
Recent polls have shown Clinton far ahead of her rivals in the New York
race, and with a distinct advantage among female voters.
A poll released last week by Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute
found the job approval rating for the state's junior senator at 58 percent
among male voters and 63 percent among women.
But even some women who support Clinton's re-election this year aren't
certain she should run for the White House in 2008, in large part because
she is a woman.
Valerie Brechko, an elementary school teacher from Penn Yan, said
Wednesday during a Clinton campaign stop that while she is a strong
Clinton supporter, she doesn't want her to run in 2008 because she can't
win.
"I don't feel that our country is willing or ready to vote a woman into
that office," Brechko said. "I hate to say it. I'm definitely a women's
libber.But they're just not ready."
Clinton faces a Sept. 12 primary against anti- Iraq war activist
Jonathan Tasini. Former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and Reagan-era Pentagon
official Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland are vying for the Republican Senate
nomination.
(Agencies) |