A funny thing happened to Hillary Clinton in her race for the White House.

She lost.

She battled hard but couldn't outpace her Democratic rival and political juggernaut, Barack Obama.

Senator Clinton's story could end here, as just another presidential also-ran, but in the end she accumulated more firsts than that one conspicuous second.

Just by running, she became the first First Lady to ever make a bid for the Oval Office – and in battling her Democratic adversary, Senator Clinton would win more state primaries and gather more delegates than any other female candidate in U.S. history.

She blazed a path and raised the bar.

"Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," she said as she withdrew from the race.

Clinton then reinvigorated and redirected her 18 million primary voters, urging them to get behind Barack Obama and support his history-making campaign. And soon after Election Day, as President-elect Obama began to fill his cabinet, he chose Clinton as the next Secretary of State.

In doing so, the former First Lady makes history again.

As she awaits Senate confirmation, Clinton will face the toughest test of her political career as she prepares to do the administration's bidding in a fragile world. It's fitting that as she accepted her assignment, she would take a piece of New York with her.

"You've helped me prepare me for this new role," she told her fellow New Yorkers. "After all, New Yorkers aren't afraid to speak their minds and do so in every language."

Hillary Clinton may have lost the election, but she won our respect and has propelled herself into 2009 – making her our New Yorker of the Year for 2008.