Of Human Interest: News-lite

FORGET ABOUT IT

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has repeatedly said she will not run for president in 2004. A new poll finds a majority of Americans don't think she should EVER run for the nation's highest office.

Sixty-five percent of the 1,009 voters surveyed by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said they didn't think Clinton should run for president at some point in the future.

"This response by voters to a presidential candidacy down the road for Sen. Clinton is similar to poll results last spring," said Marist pollster Lee Miringoff. "Democrats are divided on this question. Republicans and Independents overwhelmingly oppose a possible Clinton candidacy."

While Clinton has been emphatic that she will not run for president in 2004, her hosting a fundraiser Feb 26 for Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat who wants to run for Congress, has fueled speculation that the former first lady wanted to live again at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., "because a sure sign of presidential aspirations is throwing money at Iowans," according to a Democratic legislative counsel in Albany, N.Y., who did not want to be identified.

CHUCK AND CAMILLA

The British people would be happy to see Prince Charles marry Camilla Parker Bowles. They just don't want her to become Queen Camilla.

That's according to a survey by the You-Gov organization for The Daily Telegraph, which found 55 percent of the more than 3,000 people polled thought Charles, the heir-apparent to the throne, should wed Bowles. This is seen as a major triumph for the prince, who has pushed for greater public acceptance of his relationship.

Where they draw the line, however, is over the prospect of her wearing the crown. Only 16 percent thought she should become queen in due course. Some 34 percent thought she should be given another title, and 46 percent opposed any title at all.

Bowles generally has been unpopular with the public, stemming from her being identified by the late Princess Diana as a "third party" in her marriage to Charles. The royal couple divorced in 1996 and Diana was killed a year later in a car crash in Paris.

Charles's popularity plunged following Diana's death, and the public opinion at the time was that he be bypassed in the line of succession to the throne in favor of his and Diana's older son, Prince William. But the poll in The Daily Telegraph indicated Charles has made major progress in restoring his reputation. Some 65 percent of those surveyed said he should succeed to the throne on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, while only 25 percent favored skipping a generation to Prince William.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth's accession to the throne on the death of her father, King George VI.

JAPANESE MAN NOW WORLD'S OLDEST

A retired Japanese silkworm breeder has been declared the World's Oldest Man by the people at the Guinness Book of World Records.

Yukichi Ghuganji is 112. He assumed the title upon the death of Antonio Todde of Italy, who recently died just shy of his 113th birthday.

Ghuganji's 72-year-old daughter tells the publication that her dad is still alert, but confined to his bed. He is able sit up and eat. His favorite meals include beef and pork and lots of miso soup.

(Thanks to UPI's Dennis Daily)

REASONS TO CELEBRATE TODAY:

(Thanks to Chase's 2002 Calendar of Events)

TUESDAY: This is Dump Your "Significant Jerk" Day.

It's also Move Hollywood & Broadway to Lebanon, Pa., Day. (Web site: wellcat.com)

Today is Weatherman's, or the more politically correct Weatherperson's, Day -- observed on the anniversary of the birth, in 1744, of John Jeffries, a Boston physician and one of America's first weathermen.

And Mexico celebrates Constitution Day today.

BY THE WAY...

Technically, how long did the Third Punic War, between Rome and Carthage, last?

Technically, 2,131 years. While hostilities broke out in 149 B.C. and ended in 146 B.C. with Roman soldiers razing Carthage to the ground, it wasn't until Feb. 5, 1985, that a treaty of friendship was signed by the mayors of the two cities, officially ending the war.