Unless Barack Obama chooses her as his running mate, Clinton will find herself back in the Senate with some colleagues who know what it's like to have run and lost.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., returned to his job after being the Democratic nominee in 2004. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., failed to win the GOP nomination in 2000. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., failed as a vice presidential candidate in 2000. And earlier this year, Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joe Biden, D-Del., went back to the Senate after abandoning their presidential bids.

"We're used to this," said Sen. Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican. "Granted, Senator Clinton is a little higher profile than some of those, but not all. And I think we'll just say, 'Welcome back.'"

Clinton's Senate colleagues say they expect a smooth transition, even though some senators backed Obama early in the race and more have endorsed the Illinois senator since he won the delegates needed for the nomination Tuesday.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota freshman and early Obama supporter, said Clinton still commands respect in the Senate.

"She is a leader here and she will continue to be a leader when she returns," Klobuchar said.

Clinton's Senate colleagues don't think she will make any long-term decisions — on issues such as another bid for the presidency, running for a Senate leadership post or entering the 2010 New York governor's race — until after the November election.

If Obama loses to McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, Clinton could use her Senate position as a soapbox to criticize his domestic and foreign policies while putting together a bid for the 2012 Democratic nomination.

Should Obama win without her on the ticket, Clinton could play a key role in moving Senate legislation on issues such as universal health care and easing the rules for workers to form labor unions. She might also use her position on the Senate Armed Services Committee to critique his foreign policy initiatives.

Senate Democrats will select their 2009-10 leadership team after the November election, but Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois are not expected to step down.

They could create a new leadership position for Clinton, or she might take over running the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from her New York colleague, Chuck Schumer, to help elect more Democrats in 2010.

Analysts and politicians in New York view the chances Clinton would run for governor as remote at best. Incumbent Democrat David Paterson, who took over when Eliot Spitzer quit in disgrace in March, has said he intends to run for another term.

"She'd be nuts to take on a sitting governor, an African-American governor, and let's assume a somewhat popular governor," said New York-based pollster John Zogby. "It would be viewed, to say the least, as a hostile act."

In contrast, if Clinton digs back into her Senate job — including her committee work and her advocacy on issues important to her — Democrats and Republicans alike would be welcoming.

Dodd, who dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, joked that some people didn't know he had been running.

"I was fine when I came back," said Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "This is a very amenable place. She has great friends here — people who admire and like her."

Clinton, unlike Dodd, does not chair a committee and doesn't have the seniority to claim a chair anytime soon.

But if she is patient, several senators said, she could follow the example set by Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who unsuccessfully sought the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination and developed into one of the most productive lawmakers.

"She may decide as Ted Kennedy did, 'Gee, I kind of like legislating and I will settle down,'" Bennett said. "There was a time in Ted Kennedy's career when he was nothing like the things that are being said about him now — the master legislator who loves it."

What Clinton does may depend on her own assessment of her personality.

"Being in the legislature is very different from being an executive, as ex-governors who have become senators have told me," said Bennett. "Some of them like it. And some of them hate it."

Former Sen. Jon Corzine, who had been in charge of the Goldman Sachs investment firm before becoming one of 100 senators, left to become governor of New Jersey before his first term ended.

"It's like starting out in junior high. You've got to work your way up until you become a senior," said Sen. George Voinovich, who previously was governor of Ohio. "It's a very good experience for one's humility and one's self discipline and a test of your genuine concern for the country."

Voinovich's prediction for Clinton: "I know she'll get back and start working on stuff and trying to make a difference as a member of the Senate."

Contributing: Jay Gallagher from Albany

Enlarge By Alex Wong, Getty Images Sen. Hillary Clinton addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington D.C. Wednesday.

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