Will Hillary Clinton run in 2012 while being Secretary of State?

[BushKenya]

If so, we would basically have two Secretaries of State.  Hillary Clinton for the first two years and her deputy for the next two years while Hillary is on the campaign trail. 

I think if she truly values her and Bill's legacy, she'll leave well enough alone and fulfill her job as top diplomat for the full four years, secretly hope Obama loses in 2012, and then try to stage a 2016 comeback.

[Senator Ben]

Of course she won't run.

[Lunar]

She'd be decimated in the primaries unless Obama was incredibly unpopular.  Remember that a Kennedy couldn't even take down Carter

[Padfoot]

Why in the world would she run against the guy who made her Secretary of State?  It makes no sense at all.  Hillary is power hungry but she's not an idiot.

[N.i.K.]

If Obama is assassinated

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Why is this still being talked about?

[Lunar]

Maybe if she takes enough whiskey shots with beer chasers she could make the poor decision to run.

[Reaganfan]

It's clear Hillary isn't finished wanting the Presidency...hell I still have doubts as to whether McCain is contemplating a possible run in 2012.

Politics is crazy. In 1991, if you have said that the next three Presidents would be an unknown Governor from the South who would defeat the massively popular Bush/Quayle administration, then the Texas Rangers' owner and son of Bush, then a 30 year old African American lawyer in Chicago....people would have told you to shutup and listen to some Pearl Jam.

[phk]

]In 1991, if you have said that the next three Presidents would be an unknown Governor from the South who would defeat the massively popular Bush/Quayle administration, then the Texas Rangers' owner and son of Bush, then a 30 year old African American lawyer in Chicago....people would have told you to shutup and listen to some Pearl Jam.

True that.

[Secretary Polnut]

Only the most hardened anti-Hillary loon.... or pro-Hillary loon for that matter would actually think that Hillary would try to challenge Obama in 2012.

Oh... and Pearl Jam wasnt big in 1991 - as someone with conscious memories of that time - suggest London Beat, Fine Young Cannibals or Michael Jackson.

[Reaganfan]

Only the most hardened anti-Hillary loon.... or pro-Hillary loon for that matter would actually think that Hillary would try to challenge Obama in 2012.

Oh... and Pearl Jam wasnt big in 1991 - as someone with conscious memories of that time - suggest London Beat, Fine Young Cannibals or Michael Jackson.

Yeah, Pearl Jam was more '92.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

It would never happen, even if Obama was in a similar situation to President Jimmy Carter come the 1980 Democratic Primaries. Secretary of State Clinton (ugh, I cannot believe I just said that) would be seen as committing political suicide if she were to challenge President Obama in the primaries and such a move would be damaging to her "team player" image as seen during the Obama Administration (that's right folks, I can see into the future).

Oh... and Pearl Jam wasnt big in 1991 - as someone with conscious memories of that time - suggest London Beat, Fine Young Cannibals or Michael Jackson.

Fine Young Cannibals were still big in 1991? I thought they died along with the 1980's.

[Reaganfan]

It would never happen, even if Obama was in a similar situation to President Jimmy Carter come the 1980 Democratic Primaries. Secretary of State Clinton (ugh, I cannot believe I just said that) would be seen as committing political suicide if she were to challenge President Obama in the primaries and such a move would be damaging to her "team player" image as seen during the Obama Administration (that's right folks, I can see into the future).

Oh... and Pearl Jam wasnt big in 1991 - as someone with conscious memories of that time - suggest London Beat, Fine Young Cannibals or Michael Jackson.

Fine Young Cannibals were still big in 1991? I thought they died along with the 1980's.

I have a photographic memory, and I can remember my life starting in 1990 and I have an excellent memory from 1991 on. I can remember a few songs that were CONSTANTLY on the radio in 1991, as well. Mostly because my then-23 year old mother often had me with her going shopping and stuff.

Songs played tons in 1990/1991 off the top of my head from memory then...

"I Wanna Be Rich" - Calloway
"Rush, Rush" - Paula Abdul
"King of Wishful Thinking" - Go West
"Opposites Attract" - Paula Abdul
"I'm Your Baby Tonight" - Whitney Houston
"Cold Hearted" - Paula Abdul
"Baby Baby" - Amy Grant
"Emotions" - Mariah Carey

and the one that I remember even making fun of my mom for singing back in '91, "Everything I Do, I Do it for You" by Bryan Adams. But tons of 80s artists and songs were still very much played until the mid-1990s on most "current music" radio stations.

[N.i.K.]

No, I think Hill-Dawg wants to be United Nations Secretary General.

look at her resume...

that is if the US of A is adored

[Mr. Morden]

Politics is crazy. In 1991, if you have said that the next three Presidents would be an unknown Governor from the South who would defeat the massively popular Bush/Quayle administration....

Depends on what you mean by "unknown".  Clinton didn't declare his candidacy until late 1991, but even by early 1991, he was considered a likely presidential candidate (heck, even as far back as 1989, he was considered a likely presidential candidate).  He was unknown to the general public, but he certainly would have been known to the politically informed by early 1991.....at *least* as much as Mike Huckabee was known in early 2007.

If, back in 1991, you were to guess the next Democratic president, you might have been most likely to say Bill Bradley or Dick Gephardt, but Clinton certainly would have been a reasonable darkhorse guess.

[phk]

No. Obama took care of that.

[Ogre Mage]

There is absolutely no chance that she will run in 2012.  As for 2016, that is a long time off.  If Obama is reelected and she steps down from Secretary of State in 2014, that is suggestive.

[Gustaf]

Given the state of affairs in the world and in the US the probability of Obama becoming massively unpopular isn't completely negligible. It's a possibility and under those circumstances she may go for it and even get it.

Of course, the joint probabilities of all of this occurring is really small. But not small enough that I wouldn't go for it, if it was what I had been aiming for for so long.

[The Ex-Factor]

Politics is crazy. In 1991, if you have said that the next three Presidents would be an unknown Governor from the South who would defeat the massively popular Bush/Quayle administration....

Depends on what you mean by "unknown".  Clinton didn't declare his candidacy until late 1991, but even by early 1991, he was considered a likely presidential candidate (heck, even as far back as 1989, he was considered a likely presidential candidate).  He was unknown to the general public, but he certainly would have been known to the politically informed by early 1991.....at *least* as much as Mike Huckabee was known in early 2007.

Incidentally, Bill claimed while campaigning for his wife last year that he decided not to run for the '88 nomination the day before he was supposed to announce his plans. Smart man...

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

No, she won't run.  And if she did, she'd lose.

[Old Europe]

Will Joe Biden and Bill Richardson also try to run again in 2012?

[The Ex-Factor]

Obama's strongest opponents for the '12 nomination will probably be Lady Lynn de Rothschild and Mike Gravel.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

Obama's strongest opponents for the '12 nomination will probably be Lady Lynn de Rothschild and Mike Gravel.

Obama won't have any opponents from his party.  And Gravel left the party.

[The Ex-Factor]

There are always the Lyndon LaRouches around to prevent sitting presidents getting 100% in primaries

And I'm aware Gravel left the party, but I couldn't think of any other kooks in the party who would run again. Not even Kucinich.

[Mr. Morden]

Nowadays, there seems to be less tolerance within each of the two parties for challenges to an incumbent president in the primaries, even if the incumbent president is rather unpopular.  It's hard for me to imagine something like Ted Kennedy's challenge of Jimmy Carter in 1980 happening today, at least in a scenario where Kennedy remains in good standing within the party after the fact.  And of course, the only challenger within the party to an incumbent president we've had since then was Buchanan running against Bush in 1992, and Buchanan was hardly a figure in good standing with the GOP establishment in the same way that Hillary Clinton is with the Democratic Party.

Heck, even challenges against incumbent *vice* presidents running for president seem to be less accepted than they used to be, at least as given by the example of Gore in 2000 only attracting a single primary opponent.