Interview with Clinton: One Day at a Time

On the day after her Ohio and Texas victories, TIME managing editor Rick Stengel caught up with Hillary Clinton to talk about the challenges ahead. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

TIME: The Obama campaign has been saying that it is almost a mathematical impossibility for you to win enough pledged delegates. How do you respond?

Well, I find it interesting that a campaign that is supposed to be about hope and inspiration resorts to some kind of mathematical argument … I feel very good about where I am in this race, because the comparisons are being drawn, questions are being asked. If people ask themselves who would be the best President to manage the economy and who would be prepared to be Commander in Chief on Day One, that is to my benefit.

Can you envision a point at which–if the race stays this close–Democratic Party elders would step in and say, “This is now hurting the party and whoever will be the nominee in the fall”?

No, I really can’t. I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.

Could you envision it going all the way to the convention?

I think we should take it one day at a time–I find that is usually a better policy in life and in politics.

You’ve been quoted about whether there would be a possibility of a joint ticket. Are there are circumstances in which you would consider being his running mate if he were to offer?

This is all pretty premature. There are a lot of contests left. I think the question was certainly aimed at the historic nature of our candidacies and the possibility that we would have a unified Democratic ticket, and that may be something to consider down the road, but right now there are a lot of contests left, and I am doing everything I can to be successful in winning them.

You criticized Senator Obama for his willingness to talk to certain leaders without any preconditions. How do you reopen diplomacy with Iran? What would be your strategy?

I am glad you asked that, because Senator Obama has taken my criticism of his specific answer in an early debate and expanded it to somehow imply that I do not favor diplomacy with Iran. In fact, I believe I was probably way ahead of him in calling for diplomatic engagement with Iran going back several years now.

Listen to Clinton To hear the complete interview with Hillary Clinton, visit time.com/hillary