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 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 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." (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 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.
– 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."