KEY POINTS:
WASHINGTON - Breaking a self-imposed gag rule, President George W. Bush is predicting Democrat Hillary Clinton will win her party's presidential nomination but lose to the Republican nominee in next year's election.
"I think our candidate can beat her, but it's going to be a tough race," Bush said in an interview for The Evangelical President, a book by Bill Sammon, a reporter on Washington's Examiner newspaper.
The Examiner published a story about the book yesterday, including details of a June 26 interview Sammon had with Bush.
Bush said he thought the former first lady would defeat top Democratic challengers senators Barack Obama and John Edwards because "she's got a national presence, and this is becoming a national primary".
"And therefore the person with the national presence, who has got the ability to raise enough money to sustain an effort in a multiplicity of sites, has got a good chance to be nominated," he said.
Bush, who replaced Clinton's husband Bill in the White House in 2001, had vowed not to become "pundit in chief" by answering questions about the campaign.
- Reuters
