Secretary Of State: Would Hillary Want The Job?

On Friday, political chatter focused around reports that President-elect Barack Obama is thinking about naming Sen. Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.

But while much of the talk focused on Obama's reasoning, Clinton has a few decisions to make herself. The New York Democrat is likely already running through a series of calculations, according to two members of the Clinton inner circle who spoke to the Huffington Post.

"She has a passionate network of supporters who are devoted to her. Is she going to shut all of that off? Because once you become a Secretary of State, you don't fundraise," one former aide to Clinton's presidential campaign said. "What happens with your political staff? You're really kind of upending a lot of stuff. It's a huge life change."

The aide noted that while the Senator began her campaign with only a couple-hundred thousand email addresses in her database, she now has "at least three to five million." Indeed, even as her name was being discussed non-stop on cable news channels, Clinton's political action committee sent out a fundraising pitch Friday on behalf of Al Franken, who is still locked in an extended battle with Norm Coleman over a Senate seat in Minnesota.

Among other dilemmas are facing Clinton, according to the campaign aide -- who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation -- is whether the Secretary of State's role in an Obama administration would be diminished by the large role in foreign affairs that will likely be played by Vice President-elect Joe Biden. In addition, there is the question of whether or not Clinton will want to give up a safe Senate seat for life for a job from which she could be summarily fired without notice.