Don Van Natta, author of "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton", answered your questions

Question #1 Does she still keep in tough with Dick Morris? He seems to the "go to guy" for talk radio hosts on Hillary Clinton.

Question #2 Would she accept the Vice Presidential nomination?

I don't think that she can accept the nomination for Vice President in 2016 any more than Bill can today.

When will she announce Amy Klobuchar for Vice President ?

I can't help but think that Hillary Clinton is being subjected to much deeper analysis and criticism than a typical male candidate. Clearly we aren't reluctant to elect men who have myriad faults and have made disastrous votes in their past. Yet apparently these made no difference to half the electorate. I suppose we have to work our way to accepting a woman president, and the first brave candidate has to be the one who stands up willingly to accept the mudslinging. Three cheers for Hillary. If she doesn't succeed, she is at least making huge inroads for women in the future. I would love to hear some positive things along these lines said about her. I greatly admire her tenacity and bravery.

I went to the Simpsons movie this weekend. Itchy, the mouse, of Itchy and Scratchy fame, became president and Hillary Clinton was his Vice President. I bet that drove Hillary nuts!

Hillarious!

Thank you for agreeing to take questions all week. The question I have is this - if Hillary Clinton is less than candid about her positions, or misrepresents her stands, how is she different from say Rudy or Romney who have multiple positions on multiple things? Don't all politicians do this and why is there so much scrutiny of Hillary?

I would like to know what are some similarities and differences between Senator Clinton's way of "crafting a persona" and Mr. Rove's way of "crafting [Bush's] persona."

Also, if I may ask another question, how many times was the Senator interviewed for this book?

Thanks.

Gary asked: Does she still keep in tough with Dick Morris? He seems to the "go to guy" for talk radio hosts on Hillary Clinton.
and Question #2 Would she accept the Vice Presidential nomination?

Don Van Natta Jr. replied: Senator Clinton and Dick Morris have not been in touch for more than a decade, since he resigned as a top strategist for Bill Clinton during the summer of 1996. In his nationally syndicated column and in a number of books, including the 2004 book, "Rewriting History," Morris has established himself as one of Hillary's most adamant and passionate critics. He is currently producing an anti-Hillary documentary that will be released nationwide later this year.

I highly doubt it. When Senator Clinton announced that she was running for President on January 20, 2007, she said, "I'm in. And I'm in to win." And winning means not just her party's nomination but the Presidency. If Senator Clinton fails to win the Democratic Presidential nomination next year, which is looking unlikely, I would be stunned if she settled for the Vice Presidential slot.

Tim Nelson wrote:
I don't think that she can accept the nomination for Vice President in 2016 any more than Bill can today. When will she announce Amy Klobuchar for Vice President ?

Don Van Natta Jr. replied:
If Senator Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, I would be very surprised if Senator Klobuchar is on her short-list of vice presidential nominees. If I had to speculate about the candidates she would consider for the ticket, I'd put Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and former Senator Bob Graham of Florida at the top or near the top of her list.

Carol E. wrote:
I can't help but think that Hillary Clinton is being subjected to much deeper analysis and criticism than a typical male candidate. Clearly we aren't reluctant to elect men who have myriad faults and have made disastrous votes in their past. Yet apparently these made no difference to half the electorate. I suppose we have to work our way to accepting a woman president, and the first brave candidate has to be the one who stands up willingly to accept the mudslinging. Three cheers for Hillary. If she doesn't succeed, she is at least making huge inroads for women in the future. I would love to hear some positive things along these lines said about her. I greatly admire her tenacity and bravery.

Don Van Natta Jr. replied:
There is no question that Senator Clinton is an inspirational trailblazer for women. Her ability to stand up to 15 years of partisan "mudslinging" has proven not only her will to win but her toughness. Like you, millions admire her tenacity and her bravery to stand up to the onslaught of attacks. Her toughness has also endeared her to millions of people not just in the United States but around the world.

Hillary herself has emphasized her battle-tested experience a number of times in recent weeks, saying at the labor union forum in Chicago that if Democrats wanted someone who knew how to beat the Republicans at this rough-and-tumble game, "I'm your girl." And she attributed her high negative ratings – a recent Gallup poll puts them at 49 percent – to years of attacks by Republicans. "The idea that you're going to escape the Republican attack machine and not have high negatives by the time they're through with you, I think, is just missing what's been going on in American politics for the last 20 years," she said at the Democratic forum in Des Moines on August 19.

Senator Clinton's life-long heroine, Eleanor Roosevelt, was asked in 1934 when Americans would elect a woman as President of the United States. Mrs. Roosevelt replied that she believed a woman would be elected president when a majority of Americans trusted her and had confidence in her integrity. If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, it will be fascinating to see whether she passes Eleanor Roosevelt's test.

Gary Fischbach wrote:
I went to the Simpsons movie this weekend. Itchy, the mouse, of Itchy and Scratchy fame, became president and Hillary Clinton was his Vice President. I bet that drove Hillary nuts! Hillarious!

Don Van Natta Jr. replied:
I also saw the Simpsons movie this past weekend, and I must admit that I laughed out loud when I saw the banner advertising the "Itchy-Hillary" ticket. It would probably have driven Hillary even more nuts if the cartoon banner had read, "Obama-Hillary."

Linda H. wrote:
Thank you for agreeing to take questions all week. The question I have is this - if Hillary Clinton is less than candid about her positions, or misrepresents her stands, how is she different from say Rudy or Romney who have multiple positions on multiple things? Don't all politicians do this and why is there so much scrutiny of Hillary?

Don Van Natta Jr. replied:
This is a good question. I agree that you would be hard-pressed to find a politician who has not had multiple positions on an important issue, or someone who has not misrepresented his or her stand at least once. My co-author, Jeff Gerth, and I decided to write an investigative biography of Hillary Clinton because we were dissatisfied with the scores of books that had been written about her in the past.

Even Senator Clinton's own autobiography, "Living History," raises more questions about her life than it answers. And so, in late 2005, we embarked on this project because we wanted to seek some of those answers ourselves. We also believed there would be an audience for a rigorously reported book about Senator Clinton's professional and political life.

There is much scrutiny of Hillary and her record because she remains somewhat of a mystery. Despite the dozens of books and millions of words written about her, she is still an enigma to millions of Americans, and even to some of her friends. A friend of hers for 35 years is quoted in our book saying that Hillary Clinton says she is a challenge even to her friends. After announcing for President in January, Senator Clinton said she was the most famous American that most people don't really know. I believe our book, "Her Way," has helped readers discover the real Hillary. For example, our book shines a bright spotlight on her Senate record, which no other book, even her own, has done.

Diana Raabe wrote:
I would like to know what are some similarities and differences between Senator Clinton's way of "crafting a persona" and Mr. Rove's way of "crafting [Bush's] persona." Also, if I may ask another question, how many times was the Senator interviewed for this book? Thanks.

Don Van Natta Jr. replied:
There are more similarities than differences between Senator Clinton's style and Karl Rove's style. In 1999, as George W. Bush began his run for President, Karl Rove decided to introduce the Texas governor to Americans as a "compassionate conservative." In his speeches, and later during the debates, Bush pledged to return "dignity" to the Oval Office, a not very subtle criticism of the Lewinsky scandal that had led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. This was another Rove idea. Senator Clinton's top strategists have said privately that they admire Karl Rove's ability to develop a winning message, and then stick with it through the ups and downs a Presidential campaign.

In her Presidential campaign, Hillary has repeatedly argued that she has the experience, and the toughness, to be President. She has taken credit for the high points of her husband's Presidency – peace and prosperity, turning budget deficits into a budget surplus, the creation of millions of jobs – while avoiding any blame for the things that did not go well during the 1990s.

Every Presidential hopeful tries to develop a persona that will appeal to a majority of voters. The discipline that Hillary insists on inside her campaign – an emphasis on loyalty among a small inner circle of advisers, and no leaks to the press – reminds some Democratic strategists of the discipline of the Bush White House. In fact, one longtime Democratic strategist is quoted in our book that Hillaryland is closer to the Bush White House than the Clinton White House. This was said not as a criticism but as high praise.

As for your second question, Senator Clinton did not grant us an interview for "Her Way." Her aides told us very early on that she would not cooperate with us because she had "angst" about our project. "Her Way" is the book that Senator Clinton did not want us to write and it is now the book that she and her aides do not want anyone to read. Unfortunately, she went beyond turning down our request for an interview. She and her people also discouraged her allies and friends – and even her fellow senators – from talking with us. Despite these roadblocks, we were able to conduct more than 500 interviews and obtain thousands of previously undisclosed documents to write a book that I hope you will agree is both fascinating and revealing.