Vice president, Supreme Court justice and governor are among the career choices awaiting Hillary Clinton when she bows out of the presidential race, political analysts say, but most agree she will probably return to the Senate where she would be poised to become a major power player.
Clinton will likely be out of the Democratic race when the primaries end in less than two weeks. But if she quits, she will walk away from a candidacy that has won nearly 2,000 delegates and hundreds of thousands of votes.
“She will go to the convention in Denver with those 2,000 delegates, and those are Clinton delegates,” veteran campaign strategist Tad Devine said. “That is a formidable presence and they are going to make sure she is given the respect she deserves.”
While Clinton is practically assured a prime-time slot for a convention speech, some political observers believe Obama will tap her as his running mate.
“Whether she should be on the ticket with him is enhanced by her accumulation of delegates,” Devine said.
Political scholar Norman Ornstein envisions Clinton as the next nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It would be a brilliant move,” Ornstein said, though Democratic political consultant Peter Fenn called the idea “silly.”
But others believe Clinton would gravitate instead to a less cloistered political existence. Perhaps she would run for governor of New York after Eliot Spitzer’s replacement serves out his current term in 2010, some suggested.
“The whole notion of her running for governor doesn’t strike me as likely,” said University of Wisconsin political science professor Kathleen Dolan, who studies female candidates. “It’s a hard race. Would she win?”
Instead, Dolan and others believe Clinton’s ultimate destination will be back in the Senate, where she is serving her second term and has already established a reputation as a tough, hardworking senator.
“It’s becoming more likely that she stays in the Senate,” Ornstein said. “After this race, she will become a powerhouse there.”
