The fund-raising chairwoman of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2006 re-election campaign said Friday that Clinton shouldn't have to pledge to serve out a second full six-year term, leaving the door open for a White House run in 2008.
"I want to be very honest with you," campaign chairwoman Ann Lewis told ABC Radio's Sean Hannity. "Professionally, this is all about 2006. But if you ask me personally, I don't think Hillary Clinton should be held to a higher double standard, different from people like George Bush - who also ran for re-election in 1998, then went on to a national campaign."
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Asked if a refusal by Sen. Clinton to promise to serve out her full term was part of a "planned strategy" to win the White House, Lewis said: "No. I just don't like to see women candidates being judged differently than men. I think we ought to all play by the same rules."
Whenever Clinton was asked about a 2004 White House run during this year's presidential primaries, she almost always invoked her pledge to New Yorkers to serve out her full Senate term.
On Monday, the New York Observer reported that by recruiting Lewis, Sen. Clinton was "building a full-fledged political operation and bringing a major figure in national Democratic politics to the hub of Clinton campaign headquarters at K Street and Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C."
Top Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf was blunt about what Lewis' presence on Clinton's campaign staff means.
"That's preparation for a national race," Sheinkopf told the Observer. "They’re putting the players in place."
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