A lawyer by training, the 53-year-old Fernández is a prominent senator from Argentina's ruling Peronist party, who became First Lady when her husband, Néstor Kirchner, was elected president in 2003. Like the Clintons, Cristina and Néstor began dating when they were law students. Both husbands served as the youthful governors of backwater states or provinces before running for president. The parallels between the female lawmakers may not end there: in November, senior government officials in Buenos Aires publicly touted Fernández's presidential qualifications, fueling speculation that Kirchner might decline to seek re-election in October 2007 and put forward his wife as the Peronist nominee.

No final decision is expected until April, and some analysts view the presidential buzz surrounding Fernández as an elaborate smoke screen on the part of Kirchner, who has held elected office continuously for nearly 20 years. Either member of Argentina's ultimate power couple should easily win next year's vote: the country's thriving economy has bolstered Kirchner's approval ratings since he took office, and Fernández demonstrated her own clout in a 2005 senate election when she trounced the wife of Kirchner's predecessor as president.

In a rare interview granted to news-week in 2005, Fernández said she identifies with Mrs. Clinton because she too has received flak as an unconventional first lady who regularly speaks out on important policy issues. Cristina went on to praise the junior senator from New York as a "very brave, very intelligent woman" who inspired feelings of "gender solidarity." Hillary's expected presidential bid in 2008 may provide Fernández with inspiration of a different order in the new year.