Hillary Clinton in Meltdown as Panic Grips Staff

Monday, January 7, 2008 12:56 PM

By: Jim Meyers

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is startled by the noise of her megaphone as she campaigns at the Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, NH.

When Bill Clinton became president in 1993, Newsweek reported that Clinton staffers talked of three terms — two for Bill and one for Hillary.

The idea drew laughs at the time, but gained credibility as Hillary became the first First Lady to become a sitting U.S. senator.

The decades-long dream of Hillary Clinton to become the first woman president may appear to have gone up in smoke last week.

Reeling from her defeat in last week’s Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is reportedly in full panic mode as the latest polls show she’s likely to lose big in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary as well.

Long considered the front-runner, Clinton is now so beleaguered that political insiders are beginning to wonder when — not if — she will drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Rival John Edwards has reportedly told his senior staff that he plans to stay in the race because Clinton “could soon be out.â€