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Bush says 2008 race wide open, Clinton 'formidable'

Posted on: Friday, 27 January 2006, 20:06 CST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Friday the race for the White House in 2008 was wide open and called potential Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton "formidable."

"This is an unusual year because this is the first time there hasn't been a kind of natural successor in the party," Bush said in an interview with CBS News. His vice president, Dick Cheney, has ruled out a run for the top job.

Told that Clinton, a former first lady and current New York senator, seemed to be running pretty hard for the Democratic nomination, Bush replied, "She's formidable."

The president said it was "hard to tell" who the leading Republican candidates might be.

"The minute I start speculating, you'd make all kinds of news with it, and it would interject me in the race. ... Two wide-open primaries with no sitting vice president running in either primary, so this is -- I can't remember a time when it's been this open."

Bush said the presidency had not changed his priorities and he highly recommended the job.

"I will tell you, if given a chance to do it again, I would have said, 'You bet.' It's been a fantastic experience."

His biggest disappointment?

"The bitterness in Washington, D.C. ... the tone in Washington."

Source: REUTERS

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