Hillary Rodham
Clinton has already had to forgo one potential running
mate--her husband.
Asked by
talk-show host David Letterman if Bill Clinton could serve
as her vice president should she be elected to the
White House, the former first lady acknowledged that
he could not.
''Believe me,''
she joked, ''he looked into that.''
She also remarked
that if the Constitution didn't forbid a president from
a third term, ''he might be running.''
Such easy banter
marked Clinton's seventh appearance on Late Show With
David Letterman, which was celebrating its
14th anniversary on CBS. She first appeared on February
14, 1994, when Letterman's mother, Dorothy, interviewed her
briefly from the Winter Olympics in Norway.
On Thursday's
show Clinton recounted a summer in Alaska during which she
donned boots and an apron to gut salmon with a spoon.
''Best
preparation for being in Washington that you can possibly
imagine,'' she joked.
Clinton talked
shop too, discussing the need for campaign finance reform,
how to pull troops out of Iraq, and the importance of caring
for wounded veterans. She said that while resistance
to a female commander in chief has diminished, it
hasn't disappeared.
''I think it's
not so much that people don't think a woman can do the
job, it's just that we've never done it before,'' she said.
''I'm not running because I'm a woman; I'm running
because I think I'm the best-qualified and experienced
person who can do the job. But I know that it's a big
deal that I might be the first woman president.''
Clinton also read
a ''Top Ten List'' of tongue-in-cheek campaign
promises, including number 3: ''We will finally have a
president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking for
directions.'' (Colleen Long, AP)