The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

NEITHER BILL OR HILLARY HAS given any indication she is mulling stepping into the fray, though DNC types have for a month now been attaching her name to polls to test the appeal of various presidential tickets. There are many who believe a Kerry-Clinton ticket would be untenable for a number of reasons, not least because Kerry would likely end up ceding far too much to the Clintons in return for putting her on the ticket.

But it is also believed by many that if Kerry continues to do well in the polls against President Bush, Senator Clinton at the least would have to make a push for the vice presidency.

"She may not want to be vice president, but she won't have a choice," says a DNC fundraiser. "If Kerry has a legitimate shot at winning, she risks losing her window to run for president to someone else who is on the bottom of the ticket. If the Kerry-Clinton ticket loses, no biggie, she goes back to the Senate and is the frontrunner for 2008. If they win, she's locked in as the presidential nominee in 2012."

According to a Kerry source, the primary season has been in such a state of flux, that it is one reason Clinton has refused to publicly show approval for any candidate, even his hand-picked stalking horse, Wesley Clark. Kerry entreaties to have the president step forward after Super Tuesday to show some level of support for Kerry have thus far gone unanswered.

p>"The silence on this question has been deafening," says a Kerry adviser. "We know Clinton has told reporters that he has provided advice to us, but that simply isn't true. We have not sought much input from him, if only because of the 800-pound gorilla in the room. His wife." br> /p>

topics:
Bill Clinton, NATO