The crowd stomped and cheered as Hillary Clinton arrived on stage. “Go Hillary 2008,” a woman yelled. There were a few startled giggles at this off-message cry, for this was a John Kerry for President rally. For Hillary to stand next time, the Massachusetts senator would have to lose now; it was officially unthinkable for Democrats.

In the audience at a community college in the battleground state of Pennsylvania last week were hundreds of Hillary fans who were making do with Kerry.

“Early on I wanted her to run but I’ve really grown to like this guy,” said Phyllis Shaken, 61, a psychologist. “I can’t say I like him the way I like Hillary and Bill, but I admire the way he has withstood the pressure.”

Hillary Clinton has been watching this election intently. Should Kerry win on Tuesday, her own presidential aspirations are toast. Barring some catastrophe, Kerry will go on to seek re-election in four years’ time.

By 2012 Hillary, who was 57 last week, will be 65. Theoretically there would be time for her to stand, but America would have moved on.

Bill Clinton has made no secret of his desire to be the first “first gentleman” in American history. He longs to be back in the White House, with memories of the Monica Lewinsky hanky-panky in the Oval Office erased by his wife’s victory.

It would be the ultimate vindication of their highly political marriage, a mixture of true love and a confluence of interest.

However, right-wing pundits such as Sean Hannity, a Fox News talk-show host, are already preparing a Hillary Watch, should George W Bush win on Tuesday. His campaign to stop her reaching the White House will begin the very next day.

Arch-conservative Ann Coulter is sharpening her pen. “What actually happened during the Clinton presidency? No one can remember anything about it except the bimbos, the lies and the felonies,” she says.

One Pennsylvanian admirer said of Hillary last week: “The problem is she doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, and I like winning. She would get creamed in the mid-west. Too many people really hate her guts.”

It was this calculation that led her to suspend her presidential ambitions in 2004. She remained coolly on the sidelines, aware that this election was Bush’s to lose. After two seemingly successful military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, a Democrat president in 2004 was a long shot.

Besides, Hillary had her work cut out as senator for New York. Her new job was an opportunity to persuade a sceptical public that she was more than just a political spouse.

Time was supposed to be on her side, until Kerry suddenly looked like the “good closer” his supporters have always boasted he was.

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