CAIRO, Egypt -- Acknowledging she is seriously considering running for the Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she is certain she wants to continue having a public role on the issues she cares about.

But, she said, "The form that will take I really can't predict at this time."For the first time since a campaign to draft Hillary Clinton for the Senate was begun earlier this year, the first lady directly addressed the question.

At Cairo's El Basatine Clinic, she held an extraordinary news conference to take questions on the Senate speculation in an effort to keep American politics from dominating her 12-day tour of Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

The first lady said she has spent the past month speaking with friends, advisers and political consultants on her chances in a bid for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

"I will continue that when I return home," she said.

But she told the clinic audience of physicians and nurses that "right now I want to focus on the issues that are really at the base of this very important partnership and friendship between the United States and Egypt."

Hillary Clinton only rarely takes questions from reporters in an organized on-the-record setting, although she has answered questions during occasional briefings on specific issues, such as child care and historic preservation.

Monday, she was asked by American reporters traveling with her that if she does not run for the Senate, what else might she consider after her husband leaves the White House.

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"I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that I want to continue speaking out on behalf of the issues that I've spent more than 25 years working on," she said.

"And any way that I can continue to do that, I intend to. But what form that will take, I really can't predict at this time," she said.

On Sunday, her campaign for historic preservation swept across 5,800 miles to the heart of old Islamic Cairo, where she and her wide-eyed daughter, Chelsea, visited treasures the United States is helping to restore.

"I am here on behalf of my husband and of the American people to strengthen the bonds of friendship and partnership between our two countries, deepen our dialogue and see firsthand how Egyptians are moving toward the future while preserving their extraordinary culture and heritage," the first lady said in a statement distributed as she and Chelsea, 19, disembarked from their 13-hour flight from Washington.

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