In two television interviews this week, former president Bill Clinton talked up Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects and left open the possibility that she would run in 2008.
While Mr. Clinton made it clear that his wife had not decided what do about 2008, he said she would make a "magnificent" president and even mused aloud about how she might lay the groundwork for a national run.
In the process, Mr. Clinton seemed to stray from the strict party line put forth by Mrs. Clinton and her tight-lipped cadre of advisers: that she is totally focused on getting re-elected to the Senate in 2006 -- and not even thinking about 2008.
Mr. Clinton, for example, said Mrs. Clinton should not rule out the possibility of running for president in 2008, even if that means she cannot pledge to serve out a full second term.
In running for re-election, Mrs. Clinton will almost certainly be buffeted by Republican demands that she pledge to serve out her term if she wins.
In discussing the matter, Mr. Clinton suggested that his wife follow the strategy George W. Bush employed when he ran for a second term as governor of Texas in 1998: He refused to rule out the possibility of cutting short his second term in office to become president.
"If she wants to entertain that, she ought to do pretty much what President Bush did," Mr. Clinton said during CNN's Larry King Live on Wednesday.
"He didn't rule it out, and he shouldn't have ruled it out," Mr. Clinton continued. Mr. Clinton did emphasize a point that Mrs. Clinton and her advisers make when they are asked about her presidential prospects: that the most important task before her is convincing the voters of New York that she deserves a second term.
"I know that she is focused on finishing this term and getting re-elected, and that's exactly what she should focus on," he said on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday. "If she loses that focus, she might not get to the next election."
But Mr. Clinton said he did not think a decision on a presidential run had been made. "I am quite confident she has not decided to do that, or, if she has, she hasn't told me."
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