Clinton remains coy about 2016 White House run

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Outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions in a television interview this week about whether she will run for president in 2016.

Clinton appeared in an unusual joint interview with US President Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008. Obama won the nomination and went on to defeat US Senator John McCain in the general election.

Clinton, 65, denied there were any political tea leaves to read in the unusual joint interview for the CBS news show 60 Minutes, and acknowledged that she still has "some lingering effects" from a recent concussion and blood clot that she said doctors expect to disappear over time.

After Obama beat Clinton in the bitter 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Obama surprised many by choosing Clinton as his secretary of state - a job that Clinton, then a US senator, said she initially turned down.

Clinton has since traveled to a record 112 countries as the top US diplomat. She has said she wants to take a break from public life, but has not said she will retire.

Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 who lost the election to then-incumbent Republican president George W. Bush, is expected to be confirmed as the new secretary of state this week.

Clinton has been in the public eye for 34 years, since her husband, former president Bill Clinton, was governor of Arkansas.

Her cautious answer about her future in the show was less definitive than one she gave in an interview in December, when she said of another bid for the presidency: "I've said I really don't believe that that's something I will do again."

Many Democrats hope that Clinton will run in 2016. Vice-President Joe Biden's name has also been frequently mentioned among Democrats. He has said he has not decided whether he will run.

Questions:

1. Which news show did the US president and Secretary of State appear on?

2. How many countries has Clinton traveled to?

3. Who is expected to be confirmed as the new secretary of state?

Answers:

1. 60 Minutes.

2. 112.

3. Senator John Kerry.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.