WASHINGTON - No one knows if Hillary Rodham Clinton will feel a pang of regret when New York Democrats cast ballots for president Tuesday.

The only first lady elected to the Senate decided to sit out the race this year, but the speculation never goes away.

"Everything she's done has turned to gold," said Mario Cuomo, the former New York governor. "You have to concede that she is the most popular Democrat in the country."

And the most unpopular, too - besides her husband.

George W. Bush used to say he inherited half his dad's friends and all his enemies. Hillary Clinton's burden includes the Clinton-haters that sprung up during her husband's eight years as president. She remains a favorite punching bag on conservative talk radio and a staple villain in GOP fund-raising solicitations.

Six months ago, when President Bush looked unbeatable, some Democrats and pundits were already looking forward to Hillary in `08. But with the president slipping in polls and Democrats united and energized over the prospect of beating him, Clinton is somewhat forgotten. She no longer even tops polls of Democrats' favorite vice presidential picks; that honor falls to John Edwards.

If Bush loses, his Democratic conqueror would almost certainly run again in four years, so Clinton's candidacy could be pushed back to 2012. But die-hard activists like Bob Kunst are clinging to their Hillary hopes for this fall.

The Miami Beach Democrat started a group called Hillary Now and has spent the last six months urging her to take on Bush. In the last few days, he has flown to eight states, trying to promote her as a write-in candidate and hoping to force a floor fight at the party convention this summer.

"We see Hillary as the only candidate that can beat Bush," said Kunst. "She's been fighting the right wing for 10 years. She'd get an 80 percent turnout." Clinton has done nothing to encourage the effort, and she's stayed neutral in the primaries, vowing to put her talents and stardom to work for the nominee.

Instead, she's building a presidential resume. After just three years in the Senate, she's become a leading Democratic voice on foreign policy, homeland security and economic issues, with a reputation for doing her homework and generating headlines with regular critiques of the Bush administration.

More important, she's gathering up important chits as a rock star on the fund-raising circuit.

When the Iowa party threw a dinner last November to raise money and showcase the nine Democratic presidential contenders, sales were slow - until Hillary Clinton agreed to speak. Tickets disappeared in two days, and her thunderous reception nearly overshadowed the candidates.

At "Whitehaven," her five-bedroom home near the Italian embassy in Washington, she sometimes hosts a half-dozen events a month. One pundit called it a fund-raising "conveyor belt."

But all that doesn't necessarily mean she's the kingmaker in the family, the one presidential candidates court for advice and influence.

"I think it's the former president who's the magnet for that," said John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and now president of the American Majority Institute, a Democratic think tank.

Still, he thinks her time will come.

"She has tremendous support and allegiance around the country from people would like to see her run for president. Most people thought this wasn't the year," Podesta said.

Marie Wilson, president of the Ms. Foundation for Women and of the White House Project, whose mission is helping women reach the top of the political ladder, credits Hillary Clinton for making a woman in the Oval Office a realistic prospect for many voters.

"You cannot hear her right now without thinking `president,'" Wilson said. "We know she likes to have influence. We know that she cares about these issues. I really don't know if she wants to be president."

"No" would be fine with Dianne Thompson, president of the National Federation of Republican Women.

"Do I think a woman could be president? Yes, I do. ... It ain't gonna be Hillary," she said. "To me, she's just playing off the popularity of her husband. I don't think she's real or true, and it irritates the dog out of me that we're living off some man who embarrassed the country."

Clinton aides didn't respond to interview requests. And this week, after a foreign policy speech in Washington, the senator smiled broadly and greeted a reporter - until presidential plans were mentioned. She quickly turned and kept walking.

This month, NBC's Katie Couric asked Clinton if she hopes that someday - perhaps even in 2008 - there might be a first gentleman in the White House instead of a first lady? The senator laughed. "Oh, I have no idea. I have no idea."

In Texas, state Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting called her "one of my favorite Democrats" and said that "down the road" she'd be hard to beat for the nomination. "Anybody that doesn't recognize the value, the intellect and what she can do would just have to be blind to the reality of politics," he said.

Most pundits agree that while she's at a crest of popularity within her party, time is on her side.

"The moment she decides she wants it, it won't be hard for her to pull together a national organization," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

First, she'll have to survive a 2006 re-election contest. The most recent Marist College survey showed her slightly behind in a hypothetical match with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who dropped out of the 2000 Senate race after developing prostate cancer, and tied with another Republican, Gov. George Pataki.

If she does set her eyes on the White House, she'll run smack into an electorate as polarized about her as about her husband or President Bush.

"There's not a whole lot of uncertainty about her," said Marist polling institute director Lee Miringoff. "You put her into any tossup and the `undecided' just vanishes. This is the love-hate relationship."

Cuomo noted that even if Clinton has to wait until 2012, she'll only be 65 - younger than Ronald Reagan when he took office.

"She'll be young and strong," Cuomo said. "She'll still be the senator. She'll still be writing books. She's gonna be stronger, not weaker."

(Dallas Morning News correspondent Juliet Macur in Dallas contributed to this report.)