As soon as Al Gore rocked the political world by withdrawing his name from consideration for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, the wild speculation began as to who would be the new favorite to take his place.

Actually, only a few of us probably gave it any thought whatever, but someone (probably some 40-year-old guy who still lives with his mother) was apparently just eaten up with curiosity and went out and took a poll.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York (actually she’s from Illinois by way of Arkansas, but she moved to New York because the people from Arkansas kept making fun of her maiden name) was the runaway favorite of a group of registered Democrats were asked to choose their favorite potential 2004 candidate. The former first lady drew a whopping 30 percent of the votes, while Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Kerry finished tied for second with 13 percent each.

Voters were obviously impressed with Clinton’s notable achievements as a U.S. senator. And if anyone has any notes on Clinton’s senatorial achievements, please send them along to me because I haven’t got a clue as to what she’s been doing there.

But we really can’t blame Hillary for failing to set the world on fire as a senator. Senators are to the government what offensive linemen are to football. Everybody knows they have an important job, but it is not very glamorous, and they pretty much get ignored unless they do something really stupid. (Just ask Trent Lott.)

Now before I comment any further on a potential presidential campaign by Sen. Clinton, I should come clean about my opinion of her. She scares me. I respect her, mind you, because I think she is smart and tough and a tireless worker for the things she believes in.

But she is also a control freak, and I am afraid her desire for control will one day extend into my personal life, and I am committed to doing whatever I can to prevent that from happening.

She may not run for president in 2004, but I feel sure she will run eventually. If ever the label “driven” applied to anyone, it certainly applies to Sen. Clinton. And when she does run, she will be a formidable candidate.

Oddly enough though, I am looking forward to that day. Because even though I dislike almost everything about Hillary Clinton, there is one thing I love about her — she’s a three-dimensional character who people react strongly to, either positively or negatively. We have had too many boring, soulless presidential campaigns where there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two major candidates and where the electorate was notably disinterested in the campaign as a result.

Not so if Hillary is in the race. I for one will work vigorously to support whoever runs against her, and I relish the prospect of doing battle against the Ice Queen of Liberalism.

It’s time we had a real battle in November, and I thank the courageous 30 percent of Democratic poll respondents for nudging Hillary toward giving us all something to get excited about in 2004.