NEW YORK: Hillary Rodham Clinton paid a visit to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Tuesday, receiving the host’s blessing as a presidential hopeful while touching on issues including equal rights and e-mail and delivering a number of clever lines.

Clinton’s appearance on the syndicated TV talk show, which will air on Thursday, was taped on an open-air stage built for DeGeneres at Rockefeller Center, where hundreds of fans gathered.

Another guest was pop singer Pink, but the star attraction was Clinton, and once she and her host were settled in their paired white wingchairs, DeGeneres wasted no time asking about the controversy arising from Clinton using a personal e-mail account on a private server while she was US secretary of state.

Clinton, though maintaining she didn’t violate any Department of State regulations, declared, “I made a mistake, and I’m sorry for all the confusion that has ensued.”

DeGeneres cited one e-mail she said emerged from the tens of thousands being investigated: Clinton had inquired what time “The Good Wife” comes on.

That inspired DeGeneres to ask if Clinton is a fan of “Scandal,” the steamy ABC melodrama set in the White House. “I TiVo everything,” Clinton replied. “So I’m behind on everything.”

Clinton, a Democrat, received a rapturous reception by DeGeneres, who hailed her as a prospective chief executive by saying, “You are the smartest and most qualified person for this job.” She promised, as president, to fight for equal rights and recalled an instance of gender discrimination from her past, soon after she and Bill Clinton wed in 1975.

DeGeneres noted that, were Clinton elected to the White House, she would be among the oldest presidents to take office.

Clinton, who’s 67, had a swift comeback: “The way I look at it, I would be the youngest WOMAN elected president.”