Hillary Clinton: Still "thinking" about running for president in 2016

Maybe Hillary Clinton should just start gluing a sign to her forehead during public appearances: "No, I still haven't decided whether to run for president, please don't ask."

The former secretary of state spoke at a marketing conference in San Francisco on Tuesday night, and she was again quizzed about the topic on everyone's mind: Will she run for president in 2016?

"I am obviously flattered and deeply honored to have people ask me and people encourage me," she replied. "And I am thinking about it, but I am going to continue to think about it for a while."

"I'm actually here hoping to get some marketing advice," she joked. "I think there's a lot that I could learn and apply."

Recent polls show Clinton would be an overwhelming favorite to secure the Democratic nomination, and that she'd be a strong contender in the general election as well. But she said Tuesday that political considerations about the horserace should take a back seat to substance.

"The hard questions are not 'Do you want to be president? Can you win?'" she said. "The hard questions are 'Why? Why would you want to do this and...what can you offer that would make a difference?"

"To see people arguing about letting us default on our debt -- I mean, really -- and things that were just so beyond the pale," she said. "You had to ask yourself - what kind of country do they really want? What is their plan, what is their vision? And so if you're going to compete in this arena, you have to be able to put forward your competing purpose and vision."

She also reminded the audience of the importance of the 2014 midterms, saying the fate of efforts like immigration reform could rest on the results of the congressional elections in November.