Vilsack won't commit yet to backing Clinton in 2016

He was in her corner in 2008, but former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack hasn't joined the “Run, Hillary, Run” chorus.

At least not yet.

“Obviously, I have a great deal of respect for her. Obviously, I think she would be a great president,” President Obama's agriculture secretary said Friday when asked if he had arrived at the same decision as New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who told an Iowa Democratic Party audience last Saturday “it's Hillary's time.”

For one thing, it's too soon, Vilsack said during taping of Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press, which aired Friday tonight and will air again at noon Sunday.

“We still have the 2014 elections to be concerned about and it seems like we just got over the 2013 elections,” he said.

Vilsack supported the former first lady's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 after abandoning his own brief campaign. However, he was non-committal about supporting Clinton, should she run in 2016.

“I think the decision to run for president is a very personal one,” said Vilsack, who was Iowa's governor from 1999 to 2007. “Having myself made it, I know the thought that has to go into it and I want to respect Secretary Clinton's ability to make that decision on her own based on whatever criteria she decides.”

In the meantime, Vilsack said he hopes her supporters recognize that it's still early “and give her enough space and time to make that decision on her own.”

“I'm confident that whatever she decides, Democrats will be fielding a very strong slate of candidates in 2016,” he said.

Vilsack was more definitive when asked if he might be second-guessing his decision not to run for governor in 2014 as a way to escape Washington gridlock.

“No, I love this job,” he said about leading the USDA for the past five years. “I really do. It is a fabulous job and I'm in a department where that gridlock is not as apparent as it is in a lot of other places.”

Later, Vilsack said that because of the USDA's role not only in agriculture, but rural development, energy, economic development, housing and other activities, being ag secretary was “like being governor of all 50 states.”

Iowa Press also can be seen at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and at

www.iptv.org.