Hillary in '08

Hillary attempted to disband any thought in 2005 and early 2006 that she would run for president, despite the fact that the signs were obviously otherwise. She made overt attempts to "avoid any sign she was going to run," such as not stepping foot into New Hampshire on fundraising trips. In case you can't read the obvious, that translates into "I REALLY want to run for president." Like a 10 year old girl who acts mean to a boy that she secretly has a crush on, Hillary had full intentions to run for president in 2008. However, might we remind her what the press felt about her running?

I was having a fascinating conversation with a Middle East expert about the intricacies of Israel's disengagement from Gaza when I noticed the fellow growing impatient. "Enough of this," he said. "What about Hillary?" Welcome to my life. In airports, on checkout lines, at the doctor's office: "What about Hillary?" (Everywhere except in Washington, where everyone "knows" she's running.) I shrug, I try to avoid the question, I say it's too early—and it is. But you want to know too, right? So here it is. I like Senator Clinton. She has a wicked, ironic sense of humor (in private) and a great raucous belly laugh. She is smart and solid; she inspires tremendous loyalty among those who work for her. She is not quite as creative a policy thinker as her husband, but she easily masters difficult issues—her new found grasp of military matters has impressed colleagues of both parties on the Armed Services Committee—and she is not even vaguely the left-wing harridan portrayed by the Precambrian right. I also think that a Clinton presidential candidacy in 2008 would be a disaster on many levels.

It would doubtless be a circus, a revisitation of the carnival ugliness that infested public life in the 1990s. Already there are blogs, websites and fund-raising campaigns dedicated to denigrating her. According to the New York Observer last week, these sites aren't getting much traffic—yet. But they will. I remember several conversations with Senator Clinton after her health-care plan was killed 10 years ago, and she was clearly pained—nonplussed by the quality of anger, the sheer hatred, directed against her.

- Joe Klein

And of course, it comes as no big surprise that Hillary has officially thrown her hat into the pile of Democratic hopefuls going into the primaries.

"I'm not just starting a campaign, though, I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said. "Let's talk. Let's chat. The conversation in Washington has been just a little one-sided lately, don't you think?" - Yahoo! News

I'm going to laugh when Will Franklin's 2005 article turns out to be exactly right about Clinton not having a prayer.

Here's my chat with you, Hill; "Quit now."