McCain: Hillary Would Be President If Election Were Tomorrow

Senator John McCain told CNN’s Piers Morgan Thursday that if tomorrow were election day, Hillary Clinton would be President.

“I would bet, my friend, as much as I hate to admit it, that right now – this is why we have campaigns – but right now, if the election were tomorrow, Hillary Clinton would most likely be the President of the United States,” the Republican Senator said. He was disagreeing with Rep. Michele Bachmann’s theory that America isn’t ready for a female president.

McCain admitted that “she wouldn’t be my candidate,” but said that America was certainly ready for a woman president, pointing to the swelling ranks of women in Congress and in state leadership positions.

Bachmann had told syndicated columnist Cal Thomas that America “wasn’t ready” for a female president, and that a Clinton presidency would amount to “Obama’s third and fourth term in office.”

““I think there was a cachet about having an African-American president because of guilt,” she said. “People don’t hold guilt for a woman,” she says, adding that while people vote for women for virtually every other office, “I don’t think there is a pent-up desire” for a woman president.

Clinton has yet to announce her campaign for president, but Republicans have already gone on the offensive in anticipation of her 2016 run.

[CNN]

Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com.