Excerpts of Hillary Clinton's Interview on the "Bob and Tom" Show

In her morning interview with the "Bob and Tom" show, Hillary Clinton described her commute to work with a sheet metal worker, her approach to rising gas prices, and her readiness to be Commander in Chief,

Excerpts and links for audio follow below.

**[Click here] for audio.**

Q: I'm curious Senator, on the campaign trail; exactly how much sleep are you getting each night?

Hillary: Not enough. The closer you get to – good morning! You know, I'm in a truck in Indiana, we just pulled up to the Indiana toll road booth, we just put gas in the truck. We're trying to draw a lot of attention to how much more costly it is to do anything in life anymore, especially fill up your tank or drive to work. So I am with this wonderful young man, I am just saying hello to the tollbooth attendant, how are you today?

Tollbooth attendant: Good, how are you?

Hillary: Excellent, nice to meet you.

Tollbooth attendant: Nice to meet you!

Hillary: Thank you! She's got a big smile on her face

Q: You still owe her a quarter, come on. They don't care if you are a senator, Mrs. Clinton.

Hillary: You're not supposed to tell anybody!

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**[Click here] for audio. **

Q: I admire all of you candidates for putting up with them. I don't know how you can even live your life with all of the constant criticism. And you're taking on a big role – do you really think that when you wake up in the morning that you really want to do this, you want to be the president? Because it's going to be a really tough thing to fix when you get in there, if you do get in there.

HRC: Boy, are you right. First of all, it's the toughest job in the world anytime, it's going to be especially tough given what we will inherit. We've got two wars, we've got an economy in trouble, we've got gas prices exploding. You go down the line and people are really wondering what happens next? Our country is not headed in the right direction. But I do get up everyday more determined than ever, because I meet somebody everyday like this wonderful young man and his family that I am driving to work with who get up everyday and they go into work and they deal with all of the challenges that they have. And sometimes it's pretty daunting when I meet someone with a chronic illness or who has just lost their job and can't find another one, and I just want to get in there and start cleaning it up and trying to get us to solve our problems again. So yeah, I'm fired up, I'm ready and I think people are ready.

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**[Click here] for audio.**

Q: Senator Clinton, if you are, when you are elected president, do you think you are going to be even more under the microscope as president, since you'll be the first female president, than if, say, John McCain were elected and had to take on all of these horrible issues that face our country?

Hillary: I'm sure that it will continue to be very high scrutiny, but it will be about the real challenges facing our country. People will be asking what am I doing to fix the economy or how am I getting us out of Iraq. That's what we should be focusing on. But all the rest of it comes with the territory these days. I am used to it – if you can't stand the heat, you've got to get out of the kitchen because as Harry Truman said, this is a pretty hot kitchen when you get to Washington, D.C., especially if you are the president.

But I hope that we can try to stay focused on what is really happening in people's lives, like today with these gas prices. One of the reporters in South Bend, where I am, said that prices went up 20 cents overnight – this makes no sense to me. That's why I want to go after the oil companies and their outrageous profits. And I want to go after OPEC, they are not a free market, they set the price, they determine how much supply there is. And I think we need a president who is willing to take on these tough fights again. And we really are going to have to pull our country together to make life better for middle class families because everybody I talk to in Indiana and North Carolina, around our country, is really feeling the stress.

Q: I think we should shoot for gas prices the same as they were during the Truman...

Hillary: I'm not sure if any of you were alive back then, but...

Q: I was.

Hillary:: Were you? I remember the days when my late father would load us in the car after church and we would wander around looking for the lowest price of gas. We would spend all afternoon just driving in the country, okay, 22 cents, 20 cents, but I heard there was somebody at 19 cents. Well, those days are gone. But when George Bush became president, oil was $20 a barrel. Now it is $120 a barrel.

Q: I remember my dad calling a family meeting when gas reached 33 cents a gallon. He said, "No one is driving anymore!"

Hillary: I had the same kind of dad.

Q: Our guest is Hillary Clinton, I know you have to go, Mrs. Clinton. One last sort of semi-silly question. Do you get a chance to drive a car anymore? When is the last time you got to be by yourself and drive a while and think?

Hillary: No, I don't because obviously I have Secret Service protection and I rarely even get to sit in the front seat. The best part of what I am doing right now is I am sitting in the front seat. You can't imagine what that feels like.

Q: You've got to yell shotgun, Senator.

Hillary: I'm shotgun! I'm hoping to convince this wonderful young man that we're going to drive by his work place; we're going to go out and just drive around for a few hours.

Q: Senator, Thanks for your time, best of luck and I hope you find some cheap gas today. I don't think you will. Good luck.

Hillary: I don't think it's going to happen. That's why I am trying to get the oil companies to pay the gas tax for the summer. Let them have to bear the cost.

Q: Thanks for calling.

Hillary: Great to talk to you, bye bye.