text: 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) ||||| 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." ||||| POLITICO's Patrick Gavin reports on "President" Hillary Clinton's visit to New Zealand Thursday: 
   
   We all know that Hillary Clinton came close to winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2008. She wasn't successful, but some people clearly haven't forgotten about what could have been. 
   
   
   
   The secretary of state joined New Zealand Prime Minister John Phillip Key and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray Stuart McCully for remarks Thursday at Wellington's Parliament Theatrette, and the prime minister made a little slip-up. 
   
   
   
   "And we, in a purely bilateral basis, have concerns about the fact that Australia" has a free-trade agreement, began Key. "They’re a very important part of our market in New Zealand, so we see Trans-Pacific Partnership as a very important item to be completed if at all possible. So, President Clinton ..." ... 
   
   
   
   Laughter — and applause — ensued, according to the State Department's transcript, and Key was forced to correct himself. 
   
   
   
   "I’m sorry. Secretary Clinton — great," he said. "I thank you for your time here in New Zealand, and I look forward to seeing President Obama when he is here in Japan next week."
target: – 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."