New Book Claims Clintons Nearly Divorced

Hillary Clinton contemplated divorce out of a sense of rage at her husband's affairs, according to an extensive new biography by Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who covered the Watergate scandal with Bob Woodward.

Mr Bernstein has been working for several years on the book, to be published on June 5.

The 640-page A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton also discloses how terrified she was about the prospect of being prosecuted over the alleged Whitewater financial scandal. Bernstein suggests that she has skirted along the edge of the truth at times.

He details the full extent of the Clintons' troubled relationship and says that Mr Clinton considered ditching her in 1989 in favour of Marilyn Jo Jenkins, a company executive.

Mrs Clinton, one of the frontrunners in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential race, refused to accept a divorce.

"There are worse things than infidelity," she is reported to have told Betsey Wright, chief of staff to Mr Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas before standing for the presidency.

But Mrs Clinton did not remain sanguine for long. Out of rage at his behavior, Mrs Clinton toyed in 1990 with the idea of standing as governor of Arkansas in his place. At one point, according to Mr Bernstein, she personally interviewed a woman alleged to have had an affair with Mr Clinton.

Mr Bernstein reports a conversation between Mrs Clinton and one of her best friends, Diane Blair, during a long walk in which she raised the prospect of seeking a divorce but was worried about money and the impact on their daughter, Chelsea.

Ms Blair is quoted as saying: "She didn't own a house. She was concerned that if she were to become a single parent, how would she make it work in a way that would be good for Chelsea."

Both Clintons went to great lengths to keep his sex life out of the media spotlight. Another book on Mrs Clinton comes out three days later, Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, running to 416 pages, by reporters Jeff Garth and Don Van Natta.

They cover much the same ground as Mr Bernstein but come up with other details, including that a team she oversaw during the 1992 presidential campaign hired a private investigator to undermine Gennifer Flowers "until she is destroyed".

Ms Flowers had publicly claimed to have had an affair with Mr Clinton while he was governor.

The Washington Post, which has advance copies of both books, published details today.

The Clinton team played down the biographies as containing nothing explosive. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for her campaign team, said: "The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news."

Philippe Reines, her spokesman in the Senate, said: "Is it possible to be quoted yawning?"