AP Photos McCain: Clinton would win today

Sen. John McCain bets that if an election were today, Hillary Clinton would become president of the United States.

“I would bet, my friend, as much as I hate to admit it, that right now — this is why we have campaigns — but right now, if the election were tomorrow, Hillary Clinton would most likely be the president of the United States,” McCain told CNN’s Piers Morgan on Thursday night.


“She wouldn’t be my candidate,” the Arizona Republican clarified.

( PHOTOS: Who’s talking about Hillary Clinton 2016?)

McCain pointed to the growth of the number of women in elected positions — in Congress and in mayors’ and governors’ offices across the country.

“I just have a very different reading of the American political scene,” McCain said in response to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) recent comments that many Americans “aren’t ready” for a female president.