(Newser)
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Four years after telling staffers that she would "not in a million years" consider becoming secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is setting a record: She visits Latvia today, the 100th country she has visited in the role. Clinton is now the best-traveled secretary of state in American history, having beaten the record of 96 countries set by Madeleine Albright, her husband's secretary of state from 1997 to 2001, CBS reports. Condoleezza Rice visited 85 countries in her four years as secretary of state.
Clinton embraced the role "very early on," notes former CBS State Department reporter Charlie Wolfson. She "often speaks to audiences around the world about the experience of campaigning vigorously against President Obama, but when her opponent won and asked her to become secretary, she got on board the Obama team," he says. Clinton—who has spent 337 days on the road, including more than 1,750 hours on her Air Force 757, according to the State Department—has another six months left to clock up air miles, but has repeatedly said she won't serve another four years in the role if Obama is re-elected.
