Hillary Clinton on Possible Run in 2020: 'I'd Like to Be President'



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Hillary Clinton is giving mixed signals on whether she is considering another presidential run, telling a New York City hearing on Friday that she would be suited to the office.

During a far-ranging interview with Kara Swisher of the Recode technology website (Ms. Swisher is also a contributor to The Times' Opinion section), Mrs. Clinton initially said "no" when asked for it again. She then paused and repeated "no."

But after Ms. Swisher noted the slight hesitation, Mrs. Clinton said to reconsider his response, saying that a major task of the next Democratic president will be improving the international standing of the United States.

"Well, I'd like to be president," she said, at the public taping of Ms. Swisher's podcast. "The work would have been a bit of a state of mind, having a diploma in the State Department, and it's just going to be a lot of heavy lifting."

But after the remarks have been reported, Ms. Swisher tweeted Monday that the reaction seemed to be out of proportion to what Mrs. Clinton had said.

"Tweeps, simmer down!" Ms. Swisher wrote on Twitter. "While it may sounded like it was going to be relaunched, it would not have been relish running again."

Mrs. Clinton has become a more visible presence in recent weeks, increasing the number of her public appearances and raising money for Democrats across the country. Last week, she spoke to a fundraiser for Donna Shalala, to form Clinton's official administration, who is running for a House seat in Florida.

"She will always be a winner and I will always be with her," said Ms. Shalala, introducing Mrs. Clinton to a room full of 200 Democratic donors in Miami.

While Mrs. Clinton has a base of support among Democrats, many in the party would prefer she keep a lower profile, pointing to her low approval rating and arguing she's a distraction to the party's midterm messaging. Like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mrs. Clinton has been depicted as a villain in Republican campaign ads that attack Democratic candidates.

Mrs. Clinton dismissed some of the calls for her to retreat from public life as sexist.

"There were no telling Al Gore to go away or John Kerry to go away or John McCain or Mitt Romney to go away," she said. "Mitt Romney is going to the Senate, that's where he's going."

Mrs. Clinton said she would not consider a possible run in 2020 until after the midterm elections next week.

"I'm not even going to think about it until we get through this Nov. 6 election," she said. "But I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure we have a Democrat in the White House come January 2021."

Should she mount a third presidential bid, Mrs. Clinton would be entering a Democratic field crowded with potential contenders, a major shift from 2016, when nearly no Democrats were eager to challenge her.

Mrs. Clinton said she expects a crowded field of as many as 20 Democrats.

"I think we would have a number of excellent candidates who would be really great on the campaign trail, but let's wait and see who it is," she said. "I'm just going to wait and watch what happens."

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