Mirror.co.uk - HILLARY IS ON TRACK FOR 2008 TRIUMPH

HILLARY IS ON TRACK FOR 2008 TRIUMPH
Nov 4 2004
By Anthony Harwood

THE result is good news for Hillary Clinton. The Democrats' defeat means that in 2008 the 57-year-old New York senator is on track to become the first woman president, and husband Bill "first man".
She has a clear run to become the Democratic candidate after taking a gracious backseat to Kerry this year when she was the most popular choice to face George Bush.
Americans love fairytales and what a fairytale it would be if Bill Clinton, the Comeback Kid, was the White House house husband.
Her biggest rival would be the vice-presidential candidate this time around, John Edwards.
The North Carolina senator's charisma and youthful good looks propelled him to runner-up status in the primary race and No2 on the Democratic ticket.
Hillary's most likely opponent on the Republican side would be Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York who became a national hero after the September 11 attacks. If there is no return of Giuliani's prostate cancer a Clinton-Giuliani contest is the mouthwatering prospect in four years' time.
You can forget any comeback by John Kerry for a second attempt. Americans hate losers, however close they get to the main prize.
Like Mondale, Dukakis and Gore before him, Kerry will ride off into the sunset as yet another Democratic challenger who was steamrollered aside by the Republican machine.
But if this election left America split down the middle, that is nothing to the rancour if Hillary runs in 2008.
She is the hate figure of the Republican party and the US right wing and nobody unites it quite as much as her. They despised her pushiness as First Lady, her meddling in health care policy and her much trumpeted claims of a "right wing conspiracy" to bring down her husband over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and land fraud in their home state of Arkansas.
Bookmakers William Hill are already making Hillary Clinton 6-1 favourite for 2008 with Giuliani 7-1 second favourite and John Edwards at 10-1. Ladbrokes put Hillary at 5-1 but quote the same odds for Giuliani at 7-1 John Edwards 8-1.
Outsiders include Mr Kerry and current Vice-President Dick Cheney at 50-1 with movie star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - barred from running because he was not born in America - at 66-1.