Like a nagging case of "pneumonia" that brings with it random, yet inevitable, bouts of full-body paralysis, the rumors/threats of Hillary tossing her hat in the ring for the New York City Mayoral race simply won't go away. The latest example comes from a Quinnipiac University Poll which analyzed a hypothetical head-to-head match-up between Clinton and New York's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Unfortunately for de Blasio, the poll found that, while he would beat almost everyone else whose name has been mentioned as potential contender, he would almost certainly be crushed by Hillary.
In a very hypothetical race for New York City Mayor, Hillary Clinton, running as an independent, tops incumbent Bill de Blasio, running as a Democrat, 49 - 30 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
"New Yorkers aren't in love with Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they seem to like him better than other possible choices - except Hillary Clinton, who probably is an impossible choice," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
"None of the possible contenders has made any real noise or spent any money, so this race still could get interesting."
In the Clinton - de Blasio matchup, Clinton leads 61 - 29 percent among Democrats and 45 - 31 percent among independent voters. Republicans back de Blasio 28 - 18 percent. She leads among men and women and black, white and Hispanic voters. She also leads in every borough except Staten Island, which goes to de Blasio 28 - 22 percent.
And here is a full break down of the results:
Of course, these perpetual rumors continue to circulate despite recent comments from the ever-candidate Neera Tanden to CNN that Hillary would never "run for any elected office again."
Hillary Clinton confidante Neera Tanden says she doesn't expect Clinton to run for New York mayor -- or anything else, ever again.
"I think she's going to figure out ways to help kids and families. That's been what she's been focused on her whole life, and a lot of issues that are affecting them, over the next couple of years," Tanden told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday.
"But I don't expect her to ever run for any elected office again," she said.
Tanden, a close Clinton ally and the head of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, was shooting down reports of chatter in New York political circles that Clinton could run against incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.
"I don't expect her to run for this and I don't expect her to run for other office," Tanden said. "I think her job is to -- what she's thinking about right now is how to help those kids and families as she has her whole life."
And while a run may be unlikely, with a mainstream media that just can't process a world without the Clintons in it, we doubt we've heard the last mention of this topic.
And here are the full results:
http://www.scribd.com/embeds/336922441/content