I don’t know about “pimpin’ her out," as MSNBC's David Shuster said of Chelsea Clinton working for her mother's presidential campaign—that’s kind of rude. But in 2002 I did a piece saying pretty much the same thing. I’ve never put it up on this site because—post-a certain heady moment when Chelsea was spotted at a Donatella Versace fashion show, seated next to Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna (Chelsea was having some fun then, turning up in nightclubs all over London, flashing her undies at paparazzi) I didn’t think anyone would care….

All politicians use their children. Who can resist looking at the cutie-ootie-ooties of their favorite candidate? But the exposure of Chelsea to the media has been particularly selective. When she was an awkward teen, the Clintons cried, how could you?! But when Bill was in hot water over Monica it was Chelsea who made the iconic gesture of healing, literally joining the family’s hands together as they walked away from the media's prying questions.

More interesting than how the Clintons have "used” Chelsea is how Chelsea has taken to the media game with such great aplomb. She is her father and her mother’s daughter. (Even a bit randy like dad. Always with a very attractive beau. Remember those pictures of her tangling tongues with her very cute, curly-haired Oxford boyfriend, Ian Klaus? The one who looked like Bill… And how about Chelsea's first-person piece in Tina Brown’s Talk, post-9/11, about how she wandered through the smoke of the Twin Towers, thinking about the ravage of Bush’s tax cuts? Oh, yes; it was very Clintonian.).

What I said in my piece was that it may be too early for Hillary to become president; but the timing may be just right for Chelsea. Despite our break from England over 200 years ago, Americans seem to like the idea of dynasties. Madame Rosebud sees a Chelsea run in our future. She already has a great stylist.

Or maybe politics doesn't offer the sort of compensation Chelsea is looking for. Since finishing at Oxford, she's gravitated toward the financial world, not the Peace Corps. Leaving McKinsey & Co., a consulting firm, in November of 2006, she took a job at Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund which manages around $12 billion. The fund has donated to the campaigns of Al Gore, Bill Bradley, John Kerry and yes, Hillary Clinton. It also contributed to George W. Bush.

The New York Daily News estimated Chelsea's yearly salary to be between $100,000 and $150,000. Not bad for a 26-year-old. Chelsea is quietly fascinating; no innocent; and very savvy.