The former first lady and onetime political rival to President Barack Obama quickly became one of the most influential members of his cabinet after she began her tenure at State in early 2009.
She has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years.
Associates say Clinton has expressed interest in having the World Bank job should the Bank's current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012.
"Hillary Clinton wants the job," said one source who knows the secretary well.
A second source also said Clinton wants the position.
A third source said Obama has already expressed support for the change in her role. It is unclear whether Obama has formally agreed to nominate her for the post, which would require approval by the 187 member countries of the World Bank.
The White House declined to comment.
Well, Hillary has said all along she wouldn't be Secretary of State in an Obama second term, but announcing she's seeking a new job a year plus ahead of time seems awfully strange. Perhaps the confirmation process will take that long, I don't know. At this point, the Clinton camp is denying everything, both her personal spokesperson and the State Department are completely, categorically calling this story false.
If it is true, it's a hell of a strange process, but there you are. Perhaps she's putting an end to the whole "Primary Obama!" fantasy well ahead of time, or perhaps this move is necessary to set up shuffling the deck ahead of time. Maybe Hillary will depart sooner rather than later, one theory is that Joe Biden would then move to State and Obama would name a new VP, another has that John Kerry would take over at State.
Either way, there's more to this story than meets the press release right now, I'm betting...if it's even true.
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