Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions about her presidential ambitions in 2016, though she was the beneficiary of effusive praise from her boss, President Barack Obama, in a new interview on Sunday.

Neither Obama nor Clinton would address the elephant in the room — whether the outgoing secretary of state, Obama's 2008 primary opponent, should seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 — in an interview aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes."

"You guys in the press are incorrigible," a laughing Obama said in the interview, which was taped on Friday. "I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you're talking about elections four years from now."

But the topic of a prospective second bid for the presidency by Clinton is already on the tongues of most political professionals of both parties. Clinton allowed a knowing chuckle at a congressional hearing last week when a Republican congressman, referring to her possible ambitions, said: "I wish you the best in your future endeavors — mostly."

Clinton leaves office as secretary of state arguably at the apex of her popularity; 56 percent of Americans expressed a positive opinion of the former first lady in January's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and she leaves office with a 69 percent approval rating.

But, in the rare joint interview with the president, Clinton refused to engage the speculation.

"I am still secretary of state. So I'm out of politics. And I'm forbidden from even hearing these questions," she said. 

Clinton nonetheless offered a coy morsel of what she may or may not decide to do in 2016. 

"I don't think, you know, either he [Obama] or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year," she said. 

Should she decide to run, though, Clinton's campaign might return to Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview for clips of Obama's overflowing praise to use in campaign ads. 

Obama, for instance, said that Clinton would go down in history "as one of the finest secretary of states we've had."

"I think everybody understands that Hillary's been you know, one of the most important advisors that I've had on a whole range of issues," Obama said at another point in the interview.

And the president even made a pronouncement that would have seemed unthinkable during the bitter 2008 primary campaign between the two former senators: "I consider Hillary a strong friend." (Clinton, for her part, described her relationship with the president as "very warm" and "close.")

"Look, that is just ancient history now," Clinton said of the animosity from the 2008 campaign. "And it's ancient history because of the kind of people we all are, but also we're professionals."

Still, as Clinton mulls her future options during the time she's expected to take to relax upon leaving office, other potential Democratic candidates might move forward with their own campaigns-in-waiting. 

That includes another administration heavyweight, Vice President Joe Biden, who's seen as likely to preserve his own option to seek the Democratic nomination in 2016. 

But lest Obama's praise for Clinton be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of his secretary of state over his vice president, the president heaped praise on Biden just a week ago, too. 

"One decision I know was absolutely correct -- absolutely spot on -- was my choice of vice president," Obama said Sunday at an inaugural reception. "I could not have a better partner than Joe Biden."

President Barack Obama said he sat down for an unusual joint interview with his outgoing secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, "to have a chance to publicly say thank you."

"It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her — wish she was sticking around," Obama said in an interview with "60 Minutes" to air on CBS this Sunday.

"I want the country to appreciate what an extraordinary role she's played in the course of my administration," he added. 

The president's high praise will no doubt stoke speculation about Clinton's own chances to succeed Obama in 2016. Many Democrats hope that Clinton, a former rival of Obama's during the 2008 primary, will seek the nomination; the outgoing secretary of state leaves office at the height of her popularity. 

Clinton herself acknowledged that the joint sit-down interview would have seemed rare after her '08 battle against Obama. 

"A few years ago it would have been seen as improbable because we had that very long, hard primary campaign," he said. 

But she praised the president for his work, and said she wanted to serve out of love of country. Neither Clinton nor Obama addressed the former first lady's possible future political plans in the clip released by CBS.

Republicans in MI, OH, PA, VA are looking to change the Electoral College rules, not their party… The changes would give the GOP a HUGE advantage in presidential contests… But it would also present this dilemma for Republicans: It would speed up efforts to have the popular vote decide presidential elections… The Republican 2016ers: the insiders vs. the outsiders… Obama and Hillary to hold joint “60 Minutes” interview… Biden to talk gun violence in Richmond, VA at 11:00 am ET… And abortion opponents hold “March for Life” in DC.

*** Changing the rules, not the party: As the Republican National Committee concludes its three-day meeting in Charlotte, N.C., you’ve by now heard all the different ways Republicans are looking to improve their standing in time for the next presidential election. They want to do a better job reaching out to Latinos (see Jeb Bush’s WSJ op-ed), they want to soften their tone when it comes to social issues, and they want to narrow their technological and get-out-the-vote operation gap with Democrats. But here’s another way you might not have heard: Some Republicans are looking to change the Electoral College system in battleground states that Democrats have won in the last two cycles. As the Washington Post reports, Republicans in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- all controlled at the state level (in some form or fashion) by the GOP -- have proposed awarding their Electoral College votes by congressional district instead of the winner-take-all approach used by every state except for two (Maine and Nebraska). “No state is moving quicker than Virginia, where state senators are likely to vote on the plan as soon as next week,” the Post says.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks as (L-R) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) listen during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon January 22, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

*** That would give the GOP a HUGE advantage: The Republicans advocating these changes say they would give smaller communities more of a voice in presidential battleground states. But there’s a bigger story here: The moves would give the GOP a significant advantage due to the fact that redistricting has concentrated the Democratic vote to just a handful of congressional districts in these states. Take Virginia, for example: Obama won the state in 2012 by four percentage points and by about 150,000 votes -- and he took all of the state’s 13 electoral votes. But under the proposed changes, Mitt Romney would have won nine of the state’s electoral votes to Obama’s four. Put another way, if every electoral vote in the country was awarded by congressional district (plus two votes to the statewide winner), Romney would have defeated Obama, 276 to 262 in electoral votes (instead of Obama winning 332 to 206), according to Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz. And if only the states of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin were changed to this system, Obama would have BARELY won, 271-267, Abramowitz adds.

*** The GOP’s dilemma: The current system vs. the popular vote: And this isn’t just coming from state-level Republicans. In an interview earlier this month with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus -- who’s expected to win re-election as RNC chair today in Charlotte -- appeared to bless these changes to the Electoral College system. "I think it's something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red ought to be looking at," Priebus said, but he also added: "It's not my decision that can come from the RNC, that's for sure." But these proposed changes are shortsighted for two reasons. One, the Republicans pushing them are all but acknowledging that their party problems heading into 2016 are so significant that they have to change the rules in order to win. In other words, they are throwing in the towel and trying to rig the system. Two, the proposed changes would only speed up efforts to have the popular vote -- and not the Electoral College -- decide presidential contests, because many would see that as a fairer system. So Republicans need to ask themselves this question: Do they want the current Electoral College system, or do they want the popular vote? And a final question here: Where are the big leaders of the party on this issue? Haley Barbour? Jeb Bush? George W. Bush?

*** The insiders vs. the outsiders: Speaking of the RNC confab in Charlotte, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered a speech last night arguing, “We must stop being the stupid party. It's time for a new Republican party that talks like adults.” His main contention, per NBC’s Carrie Dann: Republicans need to get away from the budget battles of Washington, D.C. "We as Republicans have to accept that government number crunching -- even conservative number crunching -- is not the answer to our nation's problems." This highlights a striking split among the possible 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls. Some of them, because they’re governors, are pursuing an outside game. (See Jindal and also see Chris Christie’s criticism of congressional Republicans on the Hurricane Sandy relief.) And others, because they currently serve in Congress, are playing the inside game. (See Marco Rubio, who is pushing immigration reform, and Paul Ryan, who is now arguing that Republicans need to wisely pick their budget battles.) So your Invisible Primary bracket has already begun -- the insider’s bracket vs. the outsider’s bracket.

*** Obama, Hillary to conduct joint interview: And speaking of 2016, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are today taping a joint interview for “60 Minutes,” which will air on Sunday, NBC’s Kristen Welker confirms. This interview is only going to fuel speculation about Clinton’s possible presidential bid in ’16, and it looks like Obama is giving her a VERY BIG embrace. Moreover, you have to wonder what Vice President Biden is thinking about this interview.

*** Biden to talk about gun violence in Virginia: Biden, meanwhile, is heading to Richmond, Va., where he’s holding a roundtable discussion on gun violence Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Tim Kaine, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott. The roundtable discussion takes place at 11:00 am ET.

*** Abortion opponents hold “March for Life” in DC: Finally today, coinciding with this week’s 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the “March for Life” in Washington takes place from noon ET to 1:30 pm ET. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), ex-Sen./ex-presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and others will speak.

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

NIGHTLY NEWS: Four months after the attack in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her final testimony to the House and Senate, showing rare public emotion and taking responsibility for what happened. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. 

MORNING JOE: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya. The Morning Joe panel – including Random House's Jon Meacham, Donny Deutsch, NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell and economic analyst Steve Rattner – discusses. NBC News' Andrea Mitchell also reports.

DAILY RUNDOWN: The Gaggle discuss Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Benghazi hearings and talk about the possibilities for her political future. 

Hillary’s “honeymoon” with GOP ends… Yet she departs her job stronger today than she was four years ago… Kerry gets his Senate confirmation hearing at 10:00 am ET… Boehner: Obama wants to “annihilate” the GOP… Pentagon to allow women to serve in direct combat… DiFi introduces her assault-weapons ban… And Jindal addresses the RNC meeting in Charlotte, NC.

*** Hillary’s honeymoon with the GOP ends: Say what you will about yesterday’s theatrics at the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, about the testy exchanges, and about the questions asked and questions dodged. But politically, what struck us about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appearance was that it marked the end of her four-year honeymoon with Republicans, especially as we begin to turn to 2016. Yes, the word “honeymoon” might be a stretch. But consider how Republicans have either embraced her -- or been indifferent to her -- over the past four years as they’ve focused their energies on President Obama. In fact, Republicans praising her (or her husband) has been a way to criticize Obama. “I just wanted to say that I wish you’d have won the Democratic primary in 2008,” freshman GOP Rep. Tom Cotton said yesterday to Clinton. Just look at our most recent NBC/WSJ poll: 41% of Republicans approve of Clinton’s job as secretary of state (compared with just 10% who approve of Obama’s job as president). Yet whether it was the tough questions from conservatives or how Matt Drudge covered the hearings, Republicans treated Clinton as a partisan Democrat yesterday. And that was something we hadn’t seen these past four years. Madame Secretary, hope you enjoyed the Republican honeymoon while it lasted, because the bipartisan overtures are now over, assuming you do decide run in 2016. 

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Sept.11, 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 23, 2013.

*** But she’s stronger today than she was four years ago: Speaking of Clinton’s performance, all of her political strengths were on display. She was prepared. She was tough when she needed to be. She was deferential when she wanted to be. And she displayed both raw emotion and a sense of humor. It’s also worth noting that she’s stronger today -- politically -- than she was four years ago. Part of it, as we said above, is that Republicans have embraced her. But another part is that, since becoming secretary of state, she no longer owns some of her husband’s baggage. She is her own political entity now, which wasn’t always the case during her 2008 presidential bid; she was still “Mrs. Clinton” in 2008. But here’s one additional point to make: When the Clintons leave office, there’s always some kind of drama. As Bill Clinton departed the White House in 2001, there was the Marc Rich pardon. And as Hillary leaves her post as secretary of state, it ended with her testimony on Benghazi. But politically, her performance yesterday is enough to quiet any nervous nellies in the Democratic Party that she isn’t ready for what will inevitably be a rough and tumble campaign should she embark on it.  

*** Kerry gets his confirmation hearing: Hillary Clinton makes another appearance on Capitol Hill today -- but it’s to introduce John Kerry at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to succeed Clinton as secretary of state. The hearing takes place at 10:00 am ET. Here’s some trivia via the Boston Globe: If confirmed, Kerry would become the eighth secretary of state from Massachusetts, but only the second in the past 100 years. He also would be the fifth chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to be appointed, but the only sitting chairman. And if Kerry steps down from his Senate seat on Monday, the primary to replace him would have to take place between Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 26. And the general would be between Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, July 7. State law requires the general to take place 145 to 160 days after a vacancy is created. The primary is required to occur six weeks before that.

*** Boehner: Obama wants to “annihilate” the GOP: Outside of Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner made news after the Ripon Society, a moderate GOP organization, released a transcript of the speaker’s address to the group on Tuesday. In his remarks, Boehner charged that the Obama administration wants to “annihilate” the Republican Party and “shove” it “into the dustbin of history.” Said Boehner: “[G]iven what we heard [Monday] about the president's vision for his second term, it's pretty clear to me that he knows he can't do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we're expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party. And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal - to just shove us into the dustbin of history.” It’s interesting what Boehner said – but also where he said it. The Ripon Society is a group where moderate GOPers are allowed to flourish. Was Boehner sending a message to Democrats? Or to his own base? And don’t miss Paul Ryan’s statement to the Wall Street Journal: “I think we need to do a better job of applying our principles to the problems of today, to show solutions to the country's biggest problems and how they relate in people's everyday lives.”

*** Pentagon to allow women to serve in direct combat: Perhaps the biggest news of the day is the Pentagon’s announcement of ending the U.S. military’s exclusion of women as combat soldiers on the ground. Per NBC’s Courtney Kube, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will announce today he’s eliminating the direct ground combat exclusion for women. The current DoD policy is that women are to be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level if they would be engaging in direct combat. "We are moving in the direction of women as infantry soldiers," one senior defense official to NBC’s Kube. Panetta's decision mandates that the studies and reviews on women as infantry soldiers must be completed by Oct. 2015 -- women soldiers will NOT be permanently assigned to infantry any sooner than that, the official explained. In the meantime, officials will examine whether any changes are necessary for physical requirements for women to serve as infantry soldiers. This announcement, Kube adds, will open approximately 237,000 positions to women across the services (positions being individual jobs, not job categories). This will include 5,000 positions for female marines in ground combat elements (this includes female corpsmen or medics serving at the battalion or company level). Our take: Intellectually, this shouldn’t be a big deal; women are already serving in combat (see Tammy Duckworth). But the real test is where public opinion might be, especially if more and more women come home in flag-draped coffins.

*** DiFi introduces her assault-weapons ban: Also today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduces her assault-weapons ban in Congress. There’s also a Senate hearing on mental health and gun violence at 10:00 am ET before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. And yesterday, the White House announced that Vice President Biden and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) will travel to Richmond, VA to discuss gun violence.

*** Jindal addresses the RNC: Finally today, the real action at the RNC’s winter meeting in Charlotte, NC begins. And today’s highlight there is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s speech at an evening dinner. Per the Washington Post’s Cillizza, Jindal’s speech will call for Republicans to focus less on the political battles in Washington, DC. “A debate about which party can better manage the federal government is a very small and short-sighted debate,” he is expected to say. “If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.” More Jindal: “Instead of worrying about managing government, it’s time for us to address how we can lead America… to a place where it can once again become the land of opportunity, where it can once again become a place of growth and opportunity.  We should put all our eggs in that basket.” If you take the recent comments by Boehner, Ryan, and Jindal together, you’re seeing a pragmatic argument from these three Republicans. They are trying to defend conservative principles, but remain a modern party. It’s no longer about stopping Obama; it’s becoming a governing party after Obama. And speaking of Jindal, maybe no Republican has done a better job -- right now -- of positioning his voice for 2016 than the Louisiana governor has.  

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

Updated at 2:20p.m. ET: In a hearing marked by sometimes sharp and pointed exchanges, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee she took responsibility for not adequately protecting U.S. personnel in the Sept. 11 attack on a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. 

Defending the administration’s immediate handling of the attack, Clinton clashed at times with Republicans over the account the administration gave in the initial days after Sept. 11.

Clinton said the Obama administration did not try to mislead the American people about the cause of the attacks. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” she said as she sparred with Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Wisc.

She angrily told Johnson that at this stage it did not really matter what the precise origins or motives of the attack were: “What difference at this point does it make?”

She told Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican, “we did not have a clear picture” of all that was going on in Benghazi although she did acknowledge that senators had “legitimate questions” about the administration’s account.

Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., -- after telling Clinton “we are proud of you” and that all over the world “you are viewed with admiration and respect” -- delivered a blistering criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the events in Libya.

“There are many questions that are unanswered and the answers you’ve given this morning are frankly not satisfactory to me,” McCain told Clinton. He added “the American people and the families of these four brave Americans still haven’t gotten the answers they deserve.”

He asked Clinton whether she was aware of numerous warnings from Stevens and other Americans in Libya that the facility in Benghazi was not capable of resisting a sustained assault. He also said there had been other warning signs such as an attack on the British ambassador to Libya.

He angrily asked Clinton why Defense Department forces were not nearby to defend the Benghazi facility.

Last month a report issued by the Accountability Review Board (ARB) appointed by Clinton, blamed State Department officials for “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” that led to protection for the Benghazi facility that was “grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.”

In her response to McCain, Clinton said, as she did to other senators on the panel, that some additional information on the causes and circumstances of the attack is in the classified portions of the report issued by the ARB. Senators and Senate staff can read the classified portions of the ARB report, but the public cannot.

And she blamed members of Congress for holding up additional aid to Libya that might make the country more secure and less chaotic. 

Clinton was testifying Wednesday afternoon on Benghazi before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In his questioning of Clinton Wednesday morning, Sen. Rand Paul, R- Ky., told her, “I’m glad that you’re accepting responsibility. I think that ultimately with your leaving, you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11, and I really mean that. Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi, you did not read the cables from Ambassador Stevens, I would have relieved you of your post.”

He added, “It’s a failure of leadership” which cost the Americans in Benghazi their lives. “I think it’s good that you’re accepting responsibility-- because no one else is.”

Paul also argued that U.S. personnel ought to never have been sent to Benghazi “in a war zone” without a military guard. “You shouldn’t send them in with the same kind of embassy staff that you have in Paris,” he added. 

Clinton replied that all four State Department officials criticized in the ARB report for their roles on the Benghazi events had been removed from their jobs and placed on administrative leave. “The ARB (report) made very clear that the level of responsibility for the failures that they outlined was set at the assistant secretary level and below.”

The furor over the Benghazi attack helped derail one possible nominee to replace Clinton at the State Department, UN ambassador Susan Rice, whom Republicans assailed for using administration talking points that portrayed the incident as a spontaneous response to an inflammatory anti-Islamic video.

But Clinton told the committee that in the hours and days after the attack, “I was not focused on talking points” and “I wasn’t involved in the talking points process.”

Recommended: Biden not shying away from 2016 speculation

In her opening statement, Clinton told the committee, “As I have said many times since September 11, I take responsibility.  Nobody is more committed to getting this right.  I am determined to leave the State Department and our country safer, stronger, and more secure.”

Clinton's voice choked with emotion as she recalled the return of “those flag-draped caskets” from the Americans killed in Benghazi and put her arms “around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters” of those killed. 

Clinton also used her testimony to deliver a vigorous call for continued U.S. involvement in the North African nation of Mali where the Obama administration is aiding French efforts to defeat Islamic jihadist forces.

She told the committee that the United States cannot allow Mali to become a safe haven for the group Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), warning of the risk of AQIM attacks on the United States itself.

Clinton also said she could not confirm reports that some of the terrorists involved in last week’s Algeria hostage taking were also involved in the Benghazi attack but called it a "new thread" to follow.

She did say that there is no doubt that Algerian terrorists have weapons they obtained from depots in Libya that were opened up and “liberated” after the dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled, with U.S. and NATO help, in 2011.

Gary Cameron / Reuters, file

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks about the hostage situation in Algeria during a joint news conference with Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (not pictured) after their meeting at the State Department in Washington Jan. 18, 2013.

Clinton said she had accepted the ARBs recommendations for improvements in security procedures and had asked her subordinates “to ensure that all 29 of them are implemented quickly and completely.” She said these changes are designed to “reduce the chances of another Benghazi happening again.”

On Thursday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Clinton’s successor, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who is the committee’s chairman and is likely to be confirmed without any opposition.

The political stakes will be high Wednesday morning when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about her role in the events leading up to the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

The stakes will also be high for a Republican member of the committee, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whom some pundits see as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. It will be a rare instance when one potential White House hopeful gets an opportunity to interrogate a potential rival from the opposing party. Clinton herself is thought to be a strong contender for the Democratic nomination, should she chose to throw her hat into the ring.

Gary Cameron / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the State Department in Washington January 18, 2013.

Rubio said Tuesday that he hoped Clinton’s testimony would shed light on “the decision-making process in terms of the amount of security that was at the consulate. She has a unique insight that no one else in the State Department can offer, so we look forward to hearing about that.” 

Last month, a report issued by the Accountability Review Board (appointed by Clinton to investigate the attack) blamed State Department officials for “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” that led to protection for the Benghazi facility that was “grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.”

Rubio said Tuesday that one aspect of the report that bothered him was “how much blame was put on lower-level officials in the State Department when in fact this (Benghazi) is a high-profile assignment, a high-profile installation, where we should have been aware of some of the security risks that existed.”

In an interview last October, Clinton said, “I take responsibility. I’m in charge of the State Department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president certainly wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals.”

'Political charade'
The furor over the Benghazi attack has already helped derail one possible nominee to replace Clinton at the State Department, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, whom Republicans assailed for using administration talking points that portrayed the incident as a spontaneous response to an inflammatory anti-Islamic video.

Asked whether there was any way that Wednesday’s hearing could not become a political event or spectacle, Rubio responded, “Everyone here takes their job seriously. We understand that everyone involved cared for and highly valued the people whose lives were lost. But mistakes were made and it’s important to understand why they were made and how they were made so that they’re never made again.”

A newly elected Democratic member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said Tuesday, “My perspective is looking forward. I want to understand how we can better secure (U.S. diplomatic) complexes across the globe and how we can make the case here in Washington that we need the money to do it. There were resource pressures on the State Department to make decisions on security and we need to be able to have the ammunition to make the case here to increase their budget.”

Murphy said he did not see the question of whether Clinton was personally responsible for lapses in security at the Benghazi facility as the central issue in the hearing. “The decisions that were made (regarding security in Benghazi) clearly didn’t reach Secretary Clinton’s desk and I want her thoughts on how we make sure this doesn’t happen again,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

Murphy, who served three terms in the House before winning a Senate seat, criticized Republicans on the House Oversight Committee for politicizing the Benghazi attack and for running a Benghazi hearing last year that he called “a debacle, a political charade. I’m hopeful that tomorrow’s hearing won’t be the same.”

Stockpiled weapons?
One senator not on the Foreign Affairs Committee but who has led the call for the Obama administration to be more forthcoming about the attack, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said she hoped to find out from Clinton’s testimony what Clinton was told about security threats to the U.S. facility and what she was told about prior attacks on the facility. She asked, “Does she believe in the characterization that the security was substantial and significant? That was the characterization that Ambassador Rice gave to the nation. And what conversations did she have with the president about securing the consulate?”

Ayotte made the connection Tuesday between the turmoil in Libya – in which jihadists seized weapons stockpiles that had been amassed by the regime of toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi – and the danger of a similar outcome in Syria, where the security of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons stockpiles is doubt.

Ayotte, a member of a bipartisan Senate delegation that just returned from the Middle East, said, “We have seen the lesson learned, for example, in Libya.”

She said on the Senate delegation’s trip, “We heard in Egypt about weapons from Libya being shipped to the Sinai from Libya. There are reports that there may be connections between weapons from Libya and the (hostage taking) incident in Algeria (in which 37 were killed). We heard from leaders in the Middle East that these weapons are going throughout the Middle East from Libya. We’ve heard concerns about weapons (from Libya) getting the wrong hands…. When you don’t secure weapons and they get in the wrong hands, you put tools in the hands of terrorists.”

A theme from Rubio and other Republicans has been the Obama administration got engaged “too late” and “not decisively enough” in Libya, allowing chaos to prevail in some parts of the country. “The reason why there are all these multiple militias in Libya is because this was a protracted conflict that created the opportunity and the space for these militias to form – similar to what we’re seeing now in Syria,” Rubio said after a Dec. 20 Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Related:

Republicans press for answers from Clinton on Benghazi

Clinton: 'We did everything we could to keep our people safe'

Rice: 'I relied solely and squarely' on intel given to me for Benghazi comments

"What Hillary Clinton's health means for 2016?" "No obvious 2016 GOP leader." "Obama Is Boosting Biden's 2016 Prospects."

At least 154 weeks before the first presidential nominating contests of the 2016 election, news headlines offer a carnival of speculation about the pressing matter of who will next ascend to the White House when the not-yet-inaugurated president departs from D.C. in a mere 1,464 days.

Really? Really. 

After the lengthy 2012 presidential campaign -- with its daily news cycles often accelerated by 140-character Twitter news parcels -- the forward-looking speculation fills a void for political professionals, pundits and news consumers uninterested in the machinations of ongoing congressional policy negotiations, experts note. 

"Presidents become lame ducks very quickly," said Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth College political scientist and media critic who writes for the Columbia Journalism Review. "There's a lot of legislative action now but it's often difficult to get much done in a second term, so attention tends to shift pretty quickly to succession." 

And there's beginning to be some data to talk about. 

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smiles as President Barack Obama mentions her name during a news conference with Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after a meeting in in Yangon in this Nov. 19, 2012 file photograph.

It took just one month after the 2012 election for North Carolina-based polling outfit Public Policy Polling to test the favorability of 17 could-be presidential candidates, from the ubiquitous Clinton and Marco Rubio -- who lead the Democratic and Republican packs respectively -- to the nationally unknown governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. 

Related: GOP assesses path back to power

"There's a lot of people who just aren't that interested in fiscal cliff negotiations and that sort of thing, and they're still kind of winding down from the presidential race," said pollster Tom Jensen. "To some extent we're feeding the beast, and that's a role we're willing to fill." 

Jensen pointed out that, while national polling this early in the presidential game isn't particularly useful in predicting the actual outcome of the years-away contest, his polling outfit is gradually building a useful record of how possible candidates' public images have changed over time.

A casual look back at early polling confirms that premature beauty contests between potential candidates -- if taken as mere snapshots and not as trends -- are most likely to be wistful or droll than visionary. 

A Time poll taken in January 2007 showed a likely 2008 general election match-up between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. (The latter ended up spending a whopping $48.8 million in his failed presidential bid, which ultimately won only one national delegate.) In February 2011, Gallup numbers showed a statistical tie for the GOP nomination between eventual nominee Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. (Neither Palin nor Huckabee even entered the 2012 race.) As late as April of 2011, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed billionaire and noted Twitter mischief-maker Donald Trump tied for second place in the hypothetical Republican nomination race. 

A single poll now isn't likely to be any more accurate by Election Day 2016, said Jensen, although it will provide a useful baseline to track the eventual nominees' ascension to the top of the heap. 

"Clearly, we're not claiming that any of the polling we're doing right now is terribly predictive, because we don't even know who's going to run," Jensen said of early 2016 surveys. "But I think it's perfectly harmless to be accumulating this record. And if nothing else, people find it interesting." 

Much of that interest focuses on Clinton, who emerged from a vitriolic 2008 primary against Barack Obama with her public image among Democrats somewhat remarkably unscathed. Her popularity outside the party has soared as well, hitting above the 50 percent mark with independents and at a quarter with Republicans in the latest NBC/WSJ poll. Unlike any of the other contenders -- other than possibly Vice President Joe Biden -- she also has nearly universal name recognition, making chatter easy and relatively low-risk for lovers of the horse race. 

"By most accounts, Hillary Clinton would be the preemptive savior on the Democratic side, and she has this unbelievably complex and interesting political history," said Nyhan. "It's hard for people to avoid getting into that, as premature as it may be. She's catnip to the media." 

And Clinton is in the news, with recent health troubles and the bubbling controversy over the September consulate attack in Benghazi giving commentators plenty of pegs to discuss the political future of the outgoing secretary of state. It doesn't hurt that popular former President Bill Clinton has a penchant for appearing at high-profile events; he recently popped up at the Golden Globes. 

There's also Biden. A visible right-hand man to the president, Biden has two presidential runs under his belt and can boast negotiating credentials over the fiscal cliff and gun control issues in recent months. It's not clear yet that Biden, who will be 73 in November 2016, will definitely make a run for the office that's eluded him during his long political career, but his penchant for colorful language (some would say 'gaffes') makes him constant headline-fodder at least until he makes a public indication of whether or not he may run. 

Another reason for the 2016 talk may be that the people most likely to be speculating about the next presidential campaign are those most likely to spend, gamble, or make money on it.

The 2012 campaign blew out previous records for spending, with each side raising over a billion dollars. Outside groups spent well over $500 million to influence the results, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  Potential consultants, donors and operatives have a vested interest in mapping out the maze of political dominoes that, in their various patterns, determine which standard-bearers are the best bets for paychecks and payoffs.  

And that's nothing new. Early pre-election coalition-building dates back far into the nation's history, notes Hans Noel, a professor of government at Georgetown University and an expert on political primaries. He notes that early behind-the-scenes planning was already a well-established part of the political process by the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose emissaries traveled across the country with records of Roosevelt's speeches to play for potential supporters. 

"Early polls really have no meaning at all at this point, but they're going to drive media coverage of this conversation," Noel said. "The media conversation and the insider conversation overlap but they are separate. And the insider conversation is probably more predictive and meaningful." 

Predictive or not, haters will have to steel themselves for three more years of the media conversation in an environment where it's never too early for the kind of low-risk predictions that the chattering class really loves. 

Because at the end of the day, no matter who the nominees are, it's all going to come down to turnout. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation on her first day back at work since she suffered a concussion and was diagnosed with a blood clot in December.

Her staff presented her with two gifts: A football helmet emblazoned with the State Department logo, paired with a football jersey with the number 112 across the back, for the number of countries the secretary has visited during her four-year tenure.

Her deputy noted that Washington is a contact sport.

A photo released by the State Department showed Clinton hoisting the helmet into the air after pulling it out of a box.

State Department

Secretary Clinton holds up a football jersey on her first day back on the job. The jersey, given to her by her staff, has the No. 112 on the back symbolizing the number of countries she's visited as Secretary of State.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was released last night from the hospital after being treated for a blood clot, is looking forward to coming back to work next week, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said today.

"Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she's sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go. She's looking forward to getting back to the office. She is very much planning to do so next week, and we'll have further precise details about that as she continues to make progress," Nuland said.

Recommended: Boehner re-elected as Speaker of the House

Nuland said Clinton's family has been with her at home, but didn't have any other details about visitors to share. Nuland said she didn't have any new details on the medical side of things, but instead referenced a previous statement by Clinton's doctors advising against international travel.

"It sounds as if the doctors' preference is that she not make any international trips for a little while," she said.

Nuland called the number of messages from international leaders wishing Clinton well a "tsunami." Nuland didn't have any calls to international leaders to read out, but said she is sure Clinton will be back on the phone with her counterparts soon.

Clinton has said she is committed to testify on the Hill regarding Benghazi, but Nuland didn't have a date to announce. "We are working with the committees on an appropriate set of dates," she said.

Nuland was also asked about Clinton's likely successor. She didn't have an update on when Sen. John Kerry's confirmation hearing would be held, but said the State Department is also working on that date.

"We are also working with the Hill on an appropriate date for the hearing. It goes to the calendar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which hasn't yet been set," Nuland said.

Gallup has released its list of "Most Admired Woman and Most Admired Man" living anywhere in the world, and for the 11th year in a row, Hillary Clinton tops the list of women, while Barack Obama is the most admired man for the fifth year in a row. 

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a speech "Frontlines and Frontiers: Making Human Rights a Human Reality" at Dublin City University in Ireland in this file photo from Dec. 6, 2012.

First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Condoleezza Rice are next behind Clinton.

Behind Obama are Nelson Mandela, Mitt Romney, Billy Graham, George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI. 

The "Most Admired Man" poll began in 1946 and was expanded to include "Most Admired Woman" in 1948.  

Clinton has topped the list 17 times in the last 20 years, starting in 1993. Eleanor Roosevelt comes in second as the most "Most Admired Woman," a designation she gained 13 times. 

Dwight Eisenhower was the "Most Admired Man" 12 times, the most for any man, followed by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who each had eight first-place finishes.

The results are based on a Gallup poll taken from Dec 19 to 22nd.

Updated 2:20 p.m. -- Saying that his new pick for the nation's top diplomatic job is "not going to need a lot of on-the-job training," President Barack Obama announced Friday his nomination of Senate Foreign Relations Committee head and onetime Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as the next Secretary of State.

"I think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry," Obama said at the announcement at the White House as Kerry stood at his side. "And this makes him a perfect choice to guide American diplomacy in the years ahead."

Kerry, who has been considered the overwhelming frontrunner for the job since U.N. ambassador Susan Rice withdrew herself from consideration, is likely to face few hurdles during his Senate confirmation.

First elected in 1984, Kerry served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy and became a famed demonstrator against the Vietnam War. Since his failed presidential bid in 2004, he has risen to prominence as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, going on high-profile visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and helping to negotiate an arms treaty with Russia.

"Having served with valor in Vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use American power wisely, especially our military power," Obama said of Kerry. "And he knows from personal experience that when we send our troops into harm's way, we must give them a sound strategy, clear mission, and the resources that they need to get the job done."

The former presidential nominee also served as Obama's stand-in for Mitt Romney for debate preparation during the 2012 campaign, a role Obama referenced in announcing Kerry's new assignment.

"John, I'm looking forward to working with you instead of debating you," he joked.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., leads a hearing Dec. 20 on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Rice, the president's reported original pick for the job, faced vehement opposition from some Senate Republicans who questioned information she presented in the immediate wake of the Benghazi consulate attacks in September. Faced with a bruising potential confirmation battle, she withdrew herself from the running for the Secretary of State post on December 13.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who had been fierce critics of Rice’s potential nomination reacted warmly to the choice of Kerry Friday.  McCain said he has “confidence in his ability to carry out" the job while Graham called Kerry "a solid choice."

If confirmed, Kerry will replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has indicated she will step down from the post early next year.

Clinton was unable to attend the White House announcement, said the president, who noted that she is still recuperating from a reported illness but that she "could not be more excited" about Kerry getting the nod.

In a lengthy written statement, Clinton called Kerry "an excellent choice."

"President Obama and I have often asked Senator Kerry to undertake delicate diplomatic missions and to deliver difficult messages," she said in praising his past diplomatic and political experience. "He has forged strong relationships with leaders around the world.  As I have learned, being able to talk candidly as someone who has won elections and also lost them is an enormous asset when engaging with emerging or fragile democracies."

Assuming Kerry is confirmed and therefore resigns from the United States Senate, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will appoint a temporary replacement for Kerry's seat before a special election held between 145 and 160 days from his resignation date.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who was defeated in November by Elizabeth Warren, is possible candidate in that special election, while several Massachusetts House members are also eying a run on the Democratic side.