NY POST

http://www.nypostonline.com/cgi-bin/printfriendly.pl

HILL RULES OUT
A PREZ RUN - EVER
Friday,April 6,2001

By VINCENT MORRIS

HILLARY CLINTON
Stuns even her own aides.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday ruled out ever running for president - a startling declaration that seemed to leave even her own aides stunned.

The surprise vow to never make a White House bid came when Clinton was pressed to clarify a statement she'd made minutes earlier about the presidency being "not something I'm going to be doing."

As she headed to her car, Clinton was asked by The Post: "So, Sen. Clinton, are you ruling out a run for president not just in 2004, but in 2008 and beyond?"

"Yes," replied Clinton.

A top Clinton aide, who was nearby and listened to the entire exchange, said later that he's unsure whether Clinton had ever made such an ironclad refusal before.

Campaigning last year, Clinton repeatedly said she intended to serve her six-year term in the Senate if elected and would not speculate beyond that.

The former first lady's latest comments marked her starkest promise yet that her ultimate ambition is not to be president, suggesting that she plans to remain in the Senate for many years.

A recent poll found a growing number of Americans don't want her to try to follow in her husband's footsteps.

The Clinton promise came minutes after she delivered a 20-minute speech and took softball questions from members of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, which is holding its yearly conference.

Among other things, Clinton said her $8 million book project will help her "understand my own life."

"I sometimes don't know how to cover my own life," Clinton said. "I think I'm writing this book so I can just understand my own life."

Clinton told the editors that while her friends and her mother still become upset over stories written about her, she does not.

"I have long since given up assessing or even trying to understand the coverage that I receive because there really isn't anything I can do about it," she said.

Clinton later refused to answer questions about when she first learned four convicted New Square residents were hunting for a pardon from President Clinton.

She has acknowledged attending a December meeting in the White House where the topic came up with village leaders, but has not said exactly when the issue was first raised with her. She vowed to cooperate with investigators.

Meanwhile, Clinton still has not said whether she will take a vacation this month, or if her plans will involve her husband, when the Senate begins two weeks of recess Monday. The pair chat on the phone but are hardly ever together.

The Post also has learned that Clinton will be making her first official trip as a senator April 12. She'll fly to Fallon, Nev., to headline a hearing about leukemia alongside Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's No. 3 Democrat.