Hillary Clinton re-elected to US Senate

NEW YORK: Former first lady Hillary Clinton was on Wednesday re-elected to the US Senate for her second term opening the way for a potential presidential run in 2008.
Clinton, who beat her immediate rival Republican John Spencer from New York, ran the costliest campaign with nearly USD 30 million, prompting analysts to say her victory was a 'forgone conclusion.'
The former American first lady's campaign seemed nothing more than 'a dress rehearsal' for her Presidential bid, they said.
During the campaign, Clinton was often asked whether she would complete her term or make a bid for the White House to which her reply was that she was focussing on the Senate and had not decided the presidential bid yet.
Clinton's victory was significant as she won hands down, without promising to complete her term, a point her challenger John Spencer had made a campaign issue.
While the Democrat Senator was able to raise USD 35 million, her rival Spencer, a Republican managed a measly USD 4 million. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, often joined Hillary on the campaign trail.
As it became clear that she was heading for a landslide victory, Clinton said during campaign last week that Vice President Dick Cheney had said that regardless of the poll outcome, the administration would go "full steam ahead" in the same direction in Iraq.
"Well, I think the American people have said, not so fast," she added.