--- title: Senator Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina, Hillary Clinton description: "Anybody who thinks they can roll into the Oval Office and issue edicts like a CEO doesn't understand our system" canonical: https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-18T02:47:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:12.521Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Sen. Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton og:description: The Senator discusses smart women — even those she can't support. og:url: https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923ca70e5dc6bd1c/6988641fa988ca704c6b463b/gettyimages-155687360.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senator Claire McCaskill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sen. Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton twitter:description: The Senator discusses smart women — even those she can't support. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923ca70e5dc6bd1c/6988641fa988ca704c6b463b/gettyimages-155687360.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senator Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=6db2e1b9-4e44-4ec7-b010-5c933287f212&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Running For President [Watch (HLS stream): Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Running For President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/010UU5sN.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2015-09-18. Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Running For President_  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 18, 2015 2:47 AM UTC  Senator Claire McCaskill Senator Claire McCaskill Whitney Curtis—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 18, 2015 2:47 AM UTC Senator Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said that she wants more women to see themselves as political candidates, but that doesn’t mean supporting all of them. “I could never support Carly Fiorina under any circumstances,” McCaskill told TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs at the panel co-hosted by TIME and _Real Simple_ on Thursday night. “I am proud of her for being a strong, smart woman, I am proud that she’s running, but I could never support her. I’m afraid of what America would be if she were President.” She also included a not-so-subtle dig at another GOP hopeful, Donald Trump. “Running for President is more complicated than, ‘I’m smart. You’re stupid. You’re ugly. Build a wall,’” she said. “Anybody who thinks they can roll into the Oval Office and issue edicts like a CEO of a business doesn’t understand our system and the elegance of our Constitution.” McCaskill emphasized her support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. McCaskill writes in her new memoir _Plenty Ladylike_ that she’s had some bumps with the Clintons in the past (both when she said on the radio that she “wouldn’t want her daughter near” Bill Clinton, and when she endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary in 2008) but now throws her undivided support behind the former Secretary of State. “I can’t imagine anyone who has run for President in my lifetime that has stronger qualifications to be President than Hillary Rodham Clinton,” she said. “The majority of this country is going to want substance and stability over anger.” As for Clinton’s slipping poll numbers and the notion of Vice President Joe Biden entering the race, McCaskill said, “Imagine for a minute that Hillary Clinton said she wasn’t going to run, and Joe Biden said he was going to run: Joe Biden would be attacked for his recommendation not to go after Osama bin Laden, for all his gaffes, and the media would be piling on him.” “The media would be saying, ‘You know Hillary Clinton should be getting into the race.'” Gibbs also asked if McCaskill would ever consider running for the top job herself. McCaskill didn’t make any promises, but said she didn’t think it was likely. “I don’t think it’s a practical reality that I could become President,” she said. “I’ve certainly thought about it.” But, she said, “I’ve also had the blessing and the curse of being close to a presidential campaign,” and it’s not something she’d sign up for. For now, the Senator is happy as such. “I set my sights on governor, I didn’t make governor,” she said. “But I’m in the U.S. Senate and that’s not bad.” [Check out this week’s issue of TIME to read more about the poll and for more insights from successful women on how their own ambitions have changed over time in our feature story by Kristin van Ogtrop, the editor of _Real Simple_](http://time.com/4038107/why-ambition-isnt-working-for-women/). ## Transcript I have been planning for a long time that one day I wanna run for Senate, but the truth is one day I wanna run for President and- [ APPLAUSE ] and it feels really good to say that out loud. All of these women have inspired me, but part of that impotence is because when I sit around with my female friends, and we talk about politics, and we're frustrated Someone said well why doesn't one of us run. And when I sit around with my male friends that are all talking about running. And how do we shift that, like how do we even get women to start thinking about this and being okay to say this out loud. It feels embarrassing when I say it out loud. Well you shouldn't be embarrassed. No and I agree with that. And I'm thrilled you want to run. And call me and you can practice on me how to raise money. [ LAUGH ] Because that's one of the skills you have to have. You have to call complete strangers. [ LAUGH ] And ask them for checks with commas in them. [ LAUGH ] And women are really bad at that. And it's something that you've gotta learn to do. But in all seriousness, I really hope that this book talks about that. Talks about women. I've been married, divorced, single mom with three kids, re- married. I had a blended family of seven. Everything that you can do in life I've done in the public arena. Cuz when I started I was 28 years old and single and I've been doing this for 35 years. And I have loved every day and This is corny but success is not what you own. It's loving what you do. I look forward to getting out of bed every morning. I've had the flexibility to raise children. I haven't been a perfect mother, but it all works and I want young women to see themselves as candidates, and by the way, all you have to do, Is just figure out what you're gonna run for first. And then what you run for next. And then what you run for next and pretty soon you're President of the United States. [ LAUGH ] It really, honestly. [ APPLAUSE ] There are a lot of organizations that will help you figure out what to run for first if you don't know what you wanna run for first. I'm happy to take the call And happy to mentor any young woman, who sees themself as President of the United States, as long as you have the same set of values and priorities I have. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Senator Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton","datePublished":"2015-09-18T02:47:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:12.521Z","description":"The Senator discusses smart, strong women — even those she can't support","url":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["Election 2016","Living","Hillary Clinton","Joe Biden","Donald Trump","Senator","Carly Fiorina"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923ca70e5dc6bd1c/6988641fa988ca704c6b463b/gettyimages-155687360.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923ca70e5dc6bd1c/6988641fa988ca704c6b463b/gettyimages-155687360.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senator Claire McCaskill","caption":"Senator Claire McCaskill","creditText":"Whitney Curtis—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/election-2016/","name":"Election 2016"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","name":"Senator Claire McCaskill on Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Fiorina for President","description":"Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Fiorina for President","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cWVfWBv0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-18T01:12:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWVfWBv0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Women And Success: Claire McCaskill Full","description":"Women And Success: Claire McCaskill Full","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3zyD5dpF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-18T02:42:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3zyD5dpF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","duration":"PT22M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Running For President","description":"Woman And Success: Claire McCaskill on Running For President","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/010UU5sN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-18T01:25:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/010UU5sN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/","duration":"PT2M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4039687/senator-claire-mccaskill-on-carly-fiorina-and-hillary-clinton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```