The next stop for globe-trotting Hillary Rodham Clinton will be Gracie Mansion — at least if Mayor Bloomberg gets his way.
In a recent telephone chat with the secretary of state, who has repeatedly said she’s retiring from public office when her stint in the Obama administration ends, the billionaire mayor urged her to consider succeeding him at City Hall, two sources told The Post.
Bloomberg, who often praises Clinton’s turn on the world stage as the nation’s top diplomat, told the former first lady that she’d be terrific at the job, the sources said.
The mayor also made a point of saying how wonderful it was to run the country’s largest city.
Bloomberg was apparently unfazed by his chosen successor’s residency in tony Chappaqua, about 20 miles from the city’s limits. Anyone running for mayor is required to live in New York City.
But Clinton, a Chicago native, who was called a carpet-bagger when she ran for the New York Senate seat in 2000, could run as long as she moved to the Big Apple by Election Day.
The surprise proposal suggests that Bloomberg — a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent — isn’t entirely thrilled with the current crop of mayoral candidates, including his longtime ally, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Quinn last night said she was unaware of the mayor’s conversation and declined further comment.
A spokesman for Clinton did not return an e-mail asking for comment.
Clinton has made it clear she is leaving the Obama administration when the president picks her successor for his second term.
About the only job she’s indicated wanting in the near-future is that of grandmother.
But despite insisting that she’s ready for a quiet life, Clinton has been rumored to be eyeing a run for the White House in 2016 — a goal that eluded her in 2008.
The rumor mill went into overdrive at a Middle Eastern policy forum in Washington last weekend, which ended with a fawning video tribute to her.
“I just have an instinct that the best is yet to come,” former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in the video. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “As someone who knows a thing or two about political comebacks, I don’t think we have heard the last of Hillary Clinton.”