Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aimed to defuse speculation about another presidential run Friday, telling New Zealand television that she's very pleased to serve as Secretary of State. 
 
 Asked by New Zealand TV3's Duncan Garner Friday, "Just looking long term, do you still rule out standing for top office, for president?" 
 
 "Yes," Clinton said. 
 
 Garner continued: "Even as going as far as 2016?" 
 
 "Oh yes, yes," Clinton reiterated. "I’m very pleased to be doing what I’m doing as Secretary of State." 
 
 Does that constitute Clinton ruling out a 2016 run, as the Reuters' take on her comments suggests? 
 
 Not necessarily. Clinton says she's enjoying her job as Secretary of State too much to get into the presidential race. But in 2016, she almost certainly will not be Secretary of State anymore. 
 
 (Clinton may also have been even more careful than usual to try to squelch political speculation about herself given the fact that New Zealand Prime Minister John Phillip Key accidentally introduced her yesterday as "President Clinton" before correcting himself.) 
 
 In the interview Friday, Clinton also sought to defend President Barack Obama and put the Democrats' losses in the midterms Tuesday in perspective. 
 
 Asked if this was a bigger than normal midterm rout such as that her husband experienced in 1994, Clinton acknowledged, "It's big," but added, "but it is not out of the pattern of historical political elections." 
 
 "But what I think the President made very clear was he made decisions which were essential for the well-being of the American people," Clinton continued. 
 
 "It may not have been popular to do what had to be done with the stimulus and some of the other actions he took on the economy, but many of us believe it prevented even worse economic consequences," Clinton said. "So these things take a while for people to feel them, and I think the President recognizes that we’re just all going to have to redouble our efforts." ||||| CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand | 
 
 CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ruled out running for president in 2012 or 2016 on Friday, saying the United States should be ready for a woman president but it would not be her. 
 
 In interviews in New Zealand, the failed 2008 presidential candidate made clear she had no plans to run again despite talk -- fueled partly by her fellow Democrats' losses in Tuesday's U.S. mid-term elections -- she might embark on a new race. 
 
 Asked by TV3 New Zealand whether she ruled out standing for the top U.S. office through 2016, Clinton, according to a U.S. reporter, replied: "Oh yes, yes. I'm very pleased to be doing what I'm doing as secretary of state." 
 
 In a separate interview with TV New Zealand, Clinton said she hoped the United States was ready for a female president, adding "it should be." 
 
 Asked if it might be her, she replied: "Well, not me. But it will be someone and it is nice coming to countries that have already proven that they can elect women to the highest governing positions that they have in their systems." 
 
 New Zealand -- whose former prime ministers include Helen Clark and Jenny Shipley -- is the second-to-last stop on a nearly two-week Asia-Pacific tour that Clinton wraps up in Australia, whose current prime minister is Julia Gillard. 
 
 In Tuesday's election, Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, where the Republicans gained at least 60 members. As of Thursday, Democrats held on to the Senate with a 51-seat majority but the Republicans gained six seats there. 
 
 The Democrats' poor showing has been widely interpreted as a referendum on U.S. President Barak Obama, raising questions about who the party may field as its candidate in 2012, when he would be expected to run for re-election, and 2016. 
 
 (Editing by Sugita Katyal) ||||| At The Washington Post/Univision debate in Miami, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton panned Donald Trump, vowed to reform immigration and sparred over their respective records. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) 
 
 Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in a debate sponsored by The Washington Post and Univision on Wednesday night, the day after a win in the Michigan primary breathed new life into Sanders's underdog campaign. 
 
 The duel in Miami was the final one on the schedule (for now, at least) and gave the candidates their last, best chance to set a course for the rest of the race with a national audience watching. 
 
 How did they do? Below are our winners and losers. 
 
 WINNERS 
 
 Hillary Clinton: This debate was a minefield for her. She was coming off a disappointing loss in Michigan that gave Sanders some momentum. She got asked about possibly being indicted (!), about whether she lied about Benghazi and about about her being seen as untrustworthy. And the moderators demanded answers. Clinton avoided a disaster and came out as the better debater, yet again. And despite a couple missteps -- she STILL doesn't have a good answer on her Wall Street speeches?!? -- she had some very strong moments that will likely endure more than anything else. 
 
 The crowd yelled and booed during the debate in Miami as moderator Jorge Ramos asked former secretary of state Hillary Clinton if she lied to the families of the Benghazi victims. (The Washington Post) 
 
 When asked about her poor honesty ratings and her not-so-great public image, she had this to say: "I am not a natural politician, in case you haven’t noticed, like my husband or President Obama.” She added: "This is not easy for me." It was self-aware, and it turned a question about her not being honest into an answer in which she was uniquely candid. And then there was the moment she was speaking directly to a woman whose family had been broken up via deportation. Univision's Enrique Acevedo translated Clinton's heartfelt, slowly spoken answer in this indelible image, with Clinton featuring in a small splitscreen most of the time (though not in this particular image): 
 
 Can't get this image out of my mind. pic.twitter.com/FDw1VD0EHN — Irin Carmon (@irin) March 10, 2016 
 
 Bernie Sanders's suit: The man wore a BROWN SUIT. (Or maybe it was blue? No. No, it was brown.) This was basically all anybody could talk about on social media for the first 10 minutes. The Fix is on-record in support of non-traditional fashion choices. Think: Marco Rubio's boots. And President Obama's tan suit. We have seen way too many political men wearing blue and charcoal suits over the years, and Sanders boldly went where no presidential candidate has gone before ... er, at least in a long time. One issue, though, Bernie: No more button-down collars. They should only be worn sans tie. 
 
 Ted Kennedy: When it comes to a Democratic primary with a premium on getting to the left, the liberal lion of the Senate is bound to get some mentions. He was basically the Democrats' own version of Ronald Reagan on Wednesday night, as Clinton recalled the immigration reform he spearheaded in 2007. Clinton noted that Sanders opposed the bill -- suggesting a guilt-by-lack-of-association with Kennedy. Sanders, meanwhile, assured us twice that Kennedy was a very "close friend." 
 
 Moderators: Look, Clinton supporters and Clinton herself won't like the fact that Jorge Ramos asked the former secretary of state about being indicted. And they probably really won't like that he pressed her for a firmer "yes" or "no" on whether she would deport illegal immigrant children. But this debate featured something that is often lacking in debates -- follow-ups that demand firm positions. Ramos and The Post's own Karen Tumulty regularly pressed the two candidates when they didn't give a solid answer, trying to get an affirmative or a negative. It's not easy, but every moderator should do this. Candidates obfuscate way too much. 
 
 LOSERS 
 
 Sanders's chances at the nomination: As noted above, this was the last debate we currently have scheduled. This was Sanders's chance, after a big win in Michigan, to change the course of the race. And he was aggressive. He tried. He's getting better. He even handled a very tough question (in South Florida, no less) about his past praise for Fidel Castro. But he didn't do anything to change the fact that Clinton remains the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Sanders will likely continue to amass delegates and win some states, but he still needs that game-changer to really make this a race. He didn't get it on Wednesday night. And one wonders where else it might come from. 
 
 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders went on the attack after rival Hillary Clinton accused him of supporting the anti-immigration Minutemen. "Madam Secretary, I will match my record against yours any day of the week," he said. (The Washington Post) 
 
 Clinton's attacks: Clinton attacked Sanders in a series of ways that are, well, pretty disingenuous. After attacking him for being against the auto bailout at Sunday's debate -- he voted for it but was against the bank bailout -- Clinton doubled down on some similarly odd lines of attack Wednesday. She tied him to Republicans for opposing Ted Kennedy's immigration bill and suggested he supports the anti-illegal immigrant Minutemen. She noted a Koch brothers group is running an ad thanking Sanders for voting against the Export-Import Bank. And she (yet again) suggested he's trying to undo Obamacare by replacing it with single-payer health care. In each case, it's as if Clinton is painting Sanders as an ally of Republicans. In each case, that's just not true. Mostly, he's taking these positions because he's further to the left than most Democrats. Peter Hamby said it well: 
 
 How many Democrats out there believe that Bernie supports the Koch Brothers & The Minutemen, and opposes Obamacare and auto bailout? — Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) March 10, 2016 
 
 Being a senator: Just in case you forgot that being a senator is not a great thing when it comes to becoming president, this debate should disavow disabuse you of that. Voting on large packages allows your opponents to pick out one thing that you might or might not support or oppose, and tar you with it over and over again. Plus, you are constantly weighing in on the issues of the day in your public comments. Immigration is case in point. Both candidates struggled Wednesday to explain away things that made them sound not terribly in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. One wonders if voters who care about that issue -- Latinos, in particular -- liked either of their answers. 
 
 Clinton Throws Flash Grenade To Divert Attention From Question About Senate Voting Record https://t.co/FPky1Ka1S5 pic.twitter.com/F1XfSHaoFt — Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 10, 2016
– A day after being accidentally introduced as "President Clinton," Hillary seems to be taking pains to kill talk of a future run in New Zealand's media, reports Reuters. Asked whether she'd "ruled out" running through 2016, she replied, "Oh yes, yes. I'm very pleased to be doing what I'm doing as secretary of state." Asked in another interview whether she could be the first female president, she answered, "Well, not me. But it will be someone ..." The significance? Probably not much, writes Laura Rozen in Politico, noting how one of Clinton's answers is tied to her being secretary of state—a post she likely won't hold in 2016. On another front, Clinton said the midterm losses were "big—but not out of the pattern of historical political elections." She added, "I think the president made very clear was he made decisions which were essential for the well-being of the American people."