Hillary Clinton to quit politics after 2012

Hillary Clinton has poured cold water on the speculation about her future by saying she will be "moving on" whether or not President Barack Obama wins the 2012 US election.

The US Secretary of State was asked by CNN whether she would stay on after 2012, and whether she would like to be president, vice-president or defence secretary. Each time she said "No".

Clinton had been linked with both Joe Biden's job as vice-president and Robert Gates's job as defence secretary by political analysts. They assumed she plan to stick it out with Obama and then run for the presidency in 2016.

Gates has already told Obama he wants to quit this year, and Biden is seen as something of an embarrassment. Clinton, it was assumed, could take either role and in the process strengthen her credentials to become Obama's successor.

But asked about a presidential run, Clinton said: "You know, I had a wonderful experience running and I am very proud of the support I had and very grateful for the opportunity. But I'm going to be, you know, moving on."

Clinton said at a meeting in Bahrain in December that she would probably do charity work once she left her position as secretary of state. "I think I'll serve as Secretary of State as my last public position, and then probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children and particularly around the world."

Clinton, however, clearly believes her career has peaked, telling CNN: "There isn't anything that I can imagine doing after this that would be as demanding, challenging or rewarding," ·