# Hillary gov of NY?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [March 29, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165 "2008-03-29T15:21:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoo)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/1 "2008-03-29T15:21:06Z")
> **[Hillary for NY Governor?](https://www.newsweek.com/hillary-ny-governor-83829)**
>
> Some Dems float the New York Statehouse as an option.
This may be a way for Hillary to bow out gracefully and still advance her political career. If she can be an effective governor and Obama has a successful two terms she will have a marvelous chance in the 2016 race.
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### Author:  [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/2 "2008-03-29T20:47:40Z")
How old will she be in 2016?
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### Author:  [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/3 "2008-03-29T20:52:18Z")
They were talking this up pretty good last night on the cable, but I really think that after eight years in the White House, she’ll probably retire instead of taking another job in goverment. 😃
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### Author:  [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/4 "2008-03-29T20:53:45Z")
[QUOTE=Annie]
How old will she be in 2016?
[/QUOTE]
She’s age 60 right now, so you do the math.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/5 "2008-03-29T21:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=zamboniracer]
She’s age 60 right now, so you do the math.
[/QUOTE]
I was told there would be no math.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/6 "2008-03-29T21:50:04Z")
Funny, I was thinking about this possibility myself last week. I’m not sure that going from Senator to Governor, even Governor of NY, would be a step up for her. She’s probably pretty safe in her Senate seat for as long as she wants it, and she might even position herself to be majority leader.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/7 "2008-03-29T22:22:33Z")
I think she’d jump at the chance to get out of DC. I don’t think she wants to go back in humiliation and then have to work with Dodd, Kerry, Kennedy, Casey, and the like who have in her opinion backstabbed her. The only reason for her running for the Senate in the first place was to groom herself for the presidency, now she may just want to leave it.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/8 "2008-03-29T22:25:48Z")
It would be a shame because she could be an amazing Senate leader once she was no longer running for President.
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### Author:  [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/9 "2008-03-29T22:26:36Z")
If Obama loses the general, will the Dems hold Hillary responsible?
There are already people vowing to take her Senate seat away. Just heat of the moment grumbling, or a real desire for revenge?
As far as I know, she’s still hugely popular in NYS.
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### Author:  [@zoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoo)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/10 "2008-03-29T22:29:19Z")
I see it as a step up from senator. NY has two senators but only one governor.
She can gain executive experience as a bonus.
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/11 "2008-03-30T00:47:41Z")
\>I’m not sure that going from Senator to Governor, even Governor of NY, would be a step up for her.
BobLibDem is right - this campaign would have made the Senate a less friendly workplace for Hillary. Besides, to carry zoo’s point one step further, Governors are twice as rare as Senators.
Also, Governor is an executive position, which Senator isn’t. There’s a good argument to be made that being Governor prepares one for the Presidency much better than being Senator does, and an even better argument that having been both prepares one better than almost any other career you could imagine.
If it gives her an out and keeps her from running Democratic Party into the ground and effectively extending Bush’s term - a calamity that I wish seemed more impossible than it does - great.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/12 "2008-03-30T02:01:04Z")
I don’t see it. Clinton’s strengths are in Washington. She doesn’t have any power base in Albany. If she loses the nomination (which at this point I think she will) she’ll step back and take the long view. She’ll endorse Obama and work hard on getting him elected to show there’s no hard feelings. Obama’s no fool; he’ll take her support and thank her for it.
Then if Obama wins, Clinton has at least four years under a Democratic president; she can work on building her reputation in the Senate and consider another try. And if McCain wins, then four years from now, Democrats will be saying “Say what you will about Clinton, she’s a fighter, she would have beaten McCain if we had nominated her.” And she’s a front runner again.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/13 "2008-03-30T02:27:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> BobLibDem I think she’d jump at the chance to get out of DC.
Yeah, Albany is a swinging place!
[QUOTE=Napier]
BobLibDem is right - this campaign would have made the Senate a less friendly workplace for Hillary. Besides, to carry zoo’s point one step further, Governors are twice as rare as Senators.
Also, Governor is an executive position, which Senator isn’t. There’s a good argument to be made that being Governor prepares one for the Presidency much better than being Senator does, and an even better argument that having been both prepares one better than almost any other career you could imagine.
[/quote]
Doesn’t matter how rare something is-- what matters is how much power the position has. A governorship just doesn’t have the same national impact a Senate seat has.
She wants to be prez, and she probably won’t get another chance after this. I think being the governor, for her, would be nothing more than a pain in the ass.
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### Author:  [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/14 "2008-03-30T03:56:58Z")
This is interesting. If she ran against Giuliani I’d vote for her.
I hope there is a good Senator running for her seat. She hasn’t done anything for New York.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/15 "2008-03-30T04:21:11Z")
Funny; the last thing I read about this general subject was speculation (or maybe news? Or a suggestion?) that _Guliani_ would try to become governor.
Hillary and Rudy seem bound and determined to run against each other and finish the election, don’t they?
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-gov-of-ny/443165/16 "2008-03-30T11:49:25Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
Yeah, Albany is a swinging place!
[/QUOTE]
But at least the weather is more agreeable.