Hillary says her presidency would be different from Bill's

A second President Clinton might occupy a little less space than the first.

Asked how her governing style might differ from her husband’s, Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton noted that the former president – her husband, Bill – has “a bigger-than-life presence.”

“He’s like a force of nature. … I don’t even pretend to be that. That’s not who I am,” she said.

Saying the “cumbersome” rules of the Capitol often prevent radical shifts, the Democratic presidential candidate painted herself as a measured politician pragmatically focused on accomplishing change bit by bit.

“I’m somebody who just gets up every day and tries to push that decision a little bit further every single day,” she said.

The senator spoke yesterday evening at Manhattan’s Town Hall, where she answered questions posed by former Iowa Gov Tom Vilsack in front of an audience of hundreds of donors.

Onlookers paid at least £25 (€35) to attend the question-and-answer fundraiser, which also featured retired Gen Wesley Clark.

Vilsack, briefly a contender for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 campaign, has since dropped out and endorsed Clinton, who has been helping him whittle down a campaign debt of more than £200,000 (€285,000).