Hillary Clinton is favorite to win the next U.S. presidential election in 2008 after George W. Bush won re-election to the White House.
Hillary Clinton favorite to be next U.S. President
Hillary Clinton is favorite to win the next U.S. presidential election in 2008 after George Bush won re-election to the White House.
The wife of former President Bill Clinton was installed at 5-to-1 odds by the betting agency Ladbrokes and 6-to-1 by bookmaker William Hill to take over from Bush after his second term.
Bush had been Ladbrokes' favorite for the whole of the 2004 election campaign. It's estimated that some 8 million pounds was spent wagering the U.S. election.
Ladbrokes has Hillary Clinton at 5-1 followed by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at 7-1 and Kerry running mate John Edwards at 8-1.
Despite the former first lady not running for president in 2004, a broad swath of voters refuses to give up hope that the New York senator will launch a bid for the White House. A survey last year by Quinnipiac University poll, showed an astonishing 43% of Democrats surveyed would back Hillary Clinton if she entered the 2004 race.
Gen. Wesley Clark came a distant second, with just 10% of the vote. Excluding Clinton, Clark's support jumped to 17%, a four-point edge over Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and ex-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
"Despite the hoopla over Dean and Clark, if you put Mrs. Clinton into the mix she wipes them out," says Maurice Carroll, director of the nonpartisan Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Conn. "Usually when we put her in [the poll] no one else gets into double digits."
Many Democrats saw Clinton as the best hope to unseat George Bush for some legitimate reasons. She's a celebrity with unquestionable name recognition. Next, she has built a track record of legislative successes while holding office in New York. Third, and perhaps most tellingly, she sparks broad-based enthusiasm among Democratic voters, something the current crop of candidates has failed to do.
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