Who will Rupert Murdoch be supporting in 2008? In a candid television interview with Charlie Rose, the chairman of News Corporation last week gave the strongest hints yet.

Will it be Senator Clinton? “Unlikely. But not impossible.” Senator McCain? “He would make a fine president.” Mayor Bloomberg? “He would be a very good chief executive of the country.”

Whom Mr. Murdoch will pick has come to obsess political commentators — and presidential candidates — because, unlike others who preside over vast press, Internet, and radio and television companies, Mr.Murdoch’s choice will inform the whole of his family-run empire, from Fox News and the New York Post to the London tabloids the Sun and the Times.

One word from the former Australian, former Briton, current American, and Forbes magazine’s “Immigrant of the Year 2005,” and whole armies of Murdoch reporters and editors will face in the same direction.

As the London Sun could not help boasting when Mr. Murdoch switched allegiance to Tony Blair’s Labor Party from John Major’s Conservatives in 1996, “It Was The Sun Wot Won It.”

Not that Mr. Murdoch acknowledges he wields such power. Asked how powerful he is, the 76-year-old tycoon replied, “It is overstated. We can do things to help set the agenda, starting debates going in newspapers, having investigations by Fox News.”

But, having lured Mr. Murdoch to sit at his round table and chat for an hour, Mr. Rose was not prepared to allow such modesty. Last week, Mr. Murdoch hosted a fund raiser for Mrs.Clinton at News Corp.’s headquarters on Sixth Avenue.

Did this suggest the woman Mr. Murdoch’s army of journalists had until recently so enjoyed traducing was his current favorite? Would he be endorsing her in due course? Mrs. Clinton cannot have liked the answer.

“I’d be very surprised if I found myself doing that,” he said. “You have got to watch what she’s saying. Has she sincerely become a moderate and a centrist, or is she the old Hillary Clinton? She is certainly a very impressive and able woman.”

Then what about Mr. McCain? Despite his “crazy ideas” that would “destroy” the cable television industry, “I like him very much,” Mr. Murdoch said. “He’s a great natural hero and he talks a lot of sense. I do not agree with him on everything, but he’s a fine man. He would make a fine president.”

And if were between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain? “If it was a two-horse race, I would probably support McCain. If it was happening today, I think so.”

Then Mr. Rose suggested Mr. Bloomberg. “Ah, there’s a wild card. I would like to see how that shaped up in a campaign and what he says. He’s been a fantastic mayor of New York. He has done wonderful things. He didn’t expect to enjoy it — in fact he loves it.

“He’s been the chief executive of the city. He would be a very good chief executive of the country.On policy matters — where will he take us on foreign affairs, on social policy? — I’m not so sure.”