I will reiterate one more time. Hillary Clinton's absolute best shot at achieving her lifelong goal would have been, not in 2008, but in 2004.
Given the acrimony of the results of 2000, she likely would have won going away had she faced G.W. Bush then. But fate, in the form of the events of 9/11/2001 intervened. Had 9-11 never happened, she would have become President in 2004, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind.
She will go to her grave cursing the name of Osama Bin-Ladin, who was the architect of the string of events which would, at the end of the day, deny her her cherished goal. The fact that it was her husband's administration which allowed OBL to continue to roam free is another delicious irony...
the infowarrior
In 2004, her vote for the Iraq war kept her from running.
All the leading dems that year were bashing Bush and the war.
As long s we are considering 'what ifs' I have long contended that had Al Gore conceded in 2000 (as Nixon did in '60) then he would have been the Democrat nominee in '08.
Nixon was smart enough to know the damage to the country that a recount would have caused. Gore? Not so much.