Conservative Guru Buckley Calls Clinton a Contender to Be President

William F. Buckley Jr., the longtime conservative writer and leader, said that while a strong Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential race has yet to emerge, the Democrats have in Senator Hillary Clinton a true contender to become the first woman elected U.S. president.

``I don't find a commanding presence sort of knocking on the door'' for the next presidential campaign, Buckley said in an interview broadcast today on Bloomberg Television.

Clinton, of New York, is ``a very consequential woman with an extraordinary background,'' he said. ``Her thought is kind of woozy left, not in my judgment threatening.''

She is ``a phenomenon, a woman candidate who might easily be president,'' Buckley said.

Arizona Senator John McCain, the most widely known of the potential Republican candidates, is ``a remarkable human being,'' Buckley said. ``I don't think that his name comes to mind automatically as somebody who over a period of years has addressed problems with fruitful thinking, let alone with consistent thinking.''

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