On her TV show last week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had a message for Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

“If I had to pick one Democrat who I thought could definitely win a race for president, it would be you,” Maddow told McCaskill, who was sitting across the interview table.

“Why shouldn`t I be asking you if you`re running for president?” Maddow pressed.

“You know, it`s just kind of an awkward, awful question,” McCaskill answered.

Maddow continued:

“If I were you, I would be running, as the most centrist senator in the state, the way you`ve run in Missouri, the issues you`ve been interested in, the way you`ve stepped into stuff you didn`t have to get involved in, because you thought leadership was needed there. America is definitely ready for a woman nominee. If I were, I`d be running. Why aren`t you running?

McCaskill: “I don`t know. Sometimes people think me stepping in is more like a bull in a china shop maybe. I don`t know.”

Maddow: “We`re not a china shop. We`re America.”

McCaskill: “I`m passionate and I do -- I`m not afraid of a fight where I think it needs to be taken. But I also know what the process is, and besides that, I`m all in for the first woman president, Hillary Rodham Clinton. So I want to be supporting her every way I know how. I think she`ll be a terrific president, and I can`t wait to say `Madam President’ to her.

Maddow: “She`s not declared she`s running. If she doesn`t declare, would you consider running?”

McCaskill: “Probably not. I think I`ve seen up close what those things look like, and I think I can do a lot of good in other ways to serve the state I love and the country I love.

“But I think it`s a hypothetical we won`t have to talk about, because if somebody wants to betcha on whether or not Hillary Clinton is a candidate for president, I`d take the bet.”

Maddow: “All right. Well, that`s fair. I can see how uncomfortable this makes you.

“I will tell you, if I had to pick one Democrat who I thought could definitely win a race for president, it would be you. That`s in part because you`re considerably more conservative than I am. But I think you could win if you ever want to run. Anyway, I just leave it there.”