Hillary Clinton Sidesteps Jon Stewart's Big Question On The Daily Show

If you are looking for a firm answer to the question whether Hillary Rodham Clinton will run for president in the 2016 elections, then Tuesday night's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" may not be the place to look.

The irrepressible Stewart introduced Clinton by announcing, "She's here solely for one reason: to publicly and definitively declare her candidacy for president of the United States ... I think." However, Clinton, who was there to talk about her new book, "Hard Choices," and appeared not to take the bait, and reportedly kept the question alive to be answered another day.

On the show, Stewart called Clinton's book an "eyewitness view" to her four years as U.S. secretary of state, and said: “I think I speak for everybody when I say, no one cares (about the book), they just want to know if you're running for president."

Stewart also asked her a variety of questions, all aimed at getting the veteran politician to say if she would run for president in 2016, including asking what her favorite shape for an office was, and if she'd prefer a home office over commuting to work.

“You know,” Clinton replied, according to the Los Angeles Times, “I think that the world is so complicated, the fewer corners that you can have, the better.”

The former first lady, who is anything but unaware of the spotlight on her as a potential presidential candidate, and the large number of people who are already campaigning on her behalf, also said on the show: "I've been amazed at what a cottage industry it is, and so, I kind of expect it would continue, so I'm not really paying a lot of attention."

Earlier this year, when she was asked the question, Clinton had demurred and instead said that she would decide "when it feels right for me to decide," adding that potential Democratic rivals are free to do whatever they choose. In an interview with ABC News, Clinton had said that she is focused on promoting her new book while also helping fellow Democrats in the mid-term elections this fall.

Last month, she said that she will be "on the way to making a decision" by the end of 2014.

“Certainly not before then. I just want to kind of get through this year, travel around the country, sign books, help in the midterm elections in the fall, and then take a deep breath and kind of go through my pluses and minuses about what I will – and will not – be thinking about as I make the decision” she had said at the time.