Elections and expectations

US Senator Hillary Clinton came to the city yesterday where Democrats will gather in four months to nominate their candidates for president and vice president and said she isn't interested in being on the ticket.

Clinton also came out against a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

During a moderated discussion with National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Dorchester, Clinton said states should decide whether gays and lesbians should marry, though she personally supports Vermont-style civil unions. "I think they provide the kinds of protections and benefits that are really appropriate and necessary," she said of civil unions.

Clinton, 56, who was elected in 2000, is the first woman to win statewide office in New York and the first former first lady elected to the US Senate. Her high-profile tenure in both roles has led to speculation she would be chosen as Senator John F. Kerry's running mate at July's Democratic National Convention.

Yesterday, Clinton was asked during her interview with Williams about her interest in the vice presidential spot. The audience applauded at the suggestion, but Clinton shook her head vigorously. Williams asked if that meant Clinton wouldn't accept the vice presidential spot if offered.

"That is exactly right," said Clinton. "I will do anything to help Senator Kerry and whoever his running mate turns out to be." She declined to suggest possible vice presidential choices, saying it was "a really personal choice" that Kerry would have to make on his own.

Speculation about Hillary Clinton's role in the campaign has snowballed in recent months.

Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Clinton who later authored an expose of life in the Clinton White House, wrote last week that Kerry should choose Hillary Clinton or risk a "schism" in the party.

"Kerry needs to put Hillary on his ticket," wrote Morris in a column for The Hill newspaper. "A vice presidential candidacy by her would turn his campaign into a crusade and would energize her supporters to a fever pitch."

Like the cyber-movement that preceded Mitt Romney's return from running the Olympics in Utah to being elected governor in Massachusetts, Clinton's supporters have created a "draft Hillary" movement online with websites such as www.hillary.org.

Senator Clinton has been a critic of the Bush administration for months and has undertaken activities that raised her profile further, particularly for a first-term senator. She spent Thanksgiving visiting US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and went on a national book tour promoting her memoir "Living History," which was a bestseller last summer.

A polarizing figure, Clinton has also been wildly unpopular among many Republicans and a target for conservatives such as radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Clinton's fund-raising prowess -- one party official called her the Democrats' best fund-raiser besides Kerry -- has elevated her role in the upcoming campaign, particularly as some Democrats worry about their ability to raise as much money as Republicans in the presidential race.

Kerry has months to choose a running mate before the convention. Tobe Berkovitz, a political analyst and associate dean of the College of Communication at Boston University, said Kerry would do well to choose Clinton, who would help attract suburban voters, money, and excitement to the Democratic ticket.

"She brings a woman to the ticket, and she brings star power," Berkovitz said.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Tony Welch, said yesterday that it is "way too early to speculate" about what role Clinton might have at the convention this summer.

During her appearance yesterday, Clinton was honored with the Kennedy Library Foundation's "Distinguished American Award" before a crowd of 900. Past recipients include President George H. W. Bush and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright.

After receiving the award, Clinton spoke for 30 minutes and left little doubt that the presidential campaign has begun. She assailed a long list of Bush administration policies, from its handling of the war in Iraq to its stance on the minimum wage, and praised Kerry repeatedly.

"President Kennedy called a generation of Americans to service. He inspired countless people not only here but around the world, and he did so because he embodied the American spirit of true compassion," Clinton said. "It's time to put another son of Massachusetts back in the White House."

Before the event, Clinton attended a fund-raiser for her own Senate reelection campaign at the Weston home of Alan Solomont, a prominent Democratic fund-raiser. Steve Grossman, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who attended the event, said Clinton made no mention of the vice presidential spot.

"Clearly what her focus is on is to do anything and everything she can to help John Kerry become president," said Grossman, who is from Newton. He said Clinton is focused on her own reelection to the Senate, but would be invaluable in the presidential campaign because of her fund-raising skills.

Outside the Kennedy Library yesterday, retired Boston school teacher Lorraine Geanacopoulos, 74, praised Clinton effusively after seeing her speak, but she said she hoped she wouldn't run for a national spot this year because the country isn't ready to elect a woman as vice president.

Then Geanacopoulos thought ahead to 2008 or 2012 and smiled. "I think she'd make a great president then," she said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.