She’s making friends and raising money and, boy, is she in good shape. Already, she is, without question among Democrats, the leading figure. In our polls sometimes she beats all the others combined.”Most observers worry, however, that Mrs Clinton, who has been manoeuvring to portray herself as a centrist, remains a highly polarising figure. While she may have won the affection of many New Yorkers, in more conservative corners of the country she attracts emotions verging on outright hatred.”She’s intensely liked and she’s intensely disliked,” Senator John Breaux of Louisiana suggested to the Post. The Clinton name alone carries significant baggage as it reminds voters of the scandals of her husband’s presidency. If she is indeed waiting until 2008 to make a run at the White House, she may be calculating that some of those negative memories will have started to fade.Mrs Clinton may also suffer from the debacle of the failed universal healthcare plan she forged at the start of her husband’s first term. But Senator Breaux is among those in the Senate already publicly suggesting that 2008 could be her year.

“I think she’s very well positioned to be a candidate next time around,” he commented.Positions recently assigned to her include the chairmanship of the Democratic Steering Committee responsible for galvanising the party’s base and promoting its policy agenda. “I am trying to broaden the base of people we have reached out to in the past,” Mrs Clinton said. She also has a seat on the Armed Services Committee, which will give her international policy credentials.All this has happened while the senator has portrayed herself as a new member intent on learning the rules of the Senate and focusing on the issues of her state. “It took a while for some to really understand her brilliance,” said Senator Harry Reid, the Minority Whip.

“But we had to find a place for her – she is that good.”And, as Mrs Clinton strives to shed her liberal image, she recently spoke in support of President Bush’s plan to punish Iraq for its failure to disarm – an unexpectedly hard line that has infuriated many of her Democrat colleagues.. At least 15 people were killed when a bomb exploded yesterday on a bus in Haifa, the main city of northern Israel. Body parts strewn across the street around it ­ severed hands, legs. And amid them the wounded, still breathing amid the blood and wreckage.