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Whether or not Sen. Hubert Humphrey decides to run for the nation's top political post, his wife thinks he would make a good President.

Careful to point out that she is not announcing her husband's candidacy, Mrs. Muriel Humphrey said she would like for him to pitch his hat in the ring.

"Any man who has been in politics is always a little forward looking. He prepares himself for whatever his best work is and wherever he is needed," she explained Saturday in an informal interview in a suite at the Daniel Boone Hotel.

Mrs. Humphrey was accompanying her husband who made a luncheon speech in Charleston and spoke later in the day in Beckley. She was honored at a luncheon given by several prominent West Virginia Democratic women.

"I go along to help Hubert anyway I can. I'm a kind of valet, bag packer, hand shaker and greeter, When a woman is needed she always wants to be there," she said."

She has been with him during most of his state-to-state tour since fall.

Mother of four children, the Minnesota senator's wife travels three weeks with her husband and then returns home to Chevy Chase, Md. to be with their two younger sons for a few days. Their daughter is a nursing student and the other son attends boarding school in Minnesota.

Surprisingly "homey" an unaffected by her husband's status, Mrs. Humphrey chatted endlessly about her home, her children and life as a senator's wife.

"I have to be both father and mother to the children since Hubert is away so much. Sometimes I feel that I don't measure up to it," she said.

Stressing "togetherness," she feels she is very close to her children ranging from 20 to 11 years of age.

She believes parents should have a discipline code.

"If you have rules that are understandable and the children understand them, they are cooperative," she continued, "children are happier with a code to live by."

"Home" is a house on the lake in Chevy Chase and Mrs. Humphrey likes to swim and water ski with the children.

"I always make it a point to be home for parties. I never allow the children to have parties when we're not home even though we have a housekeeper," she pointed out.

For Saturday's luncheon, Mrs. Humphrey was wearing a French jersey sheath dress which she designed and made herself. The dress was a bright blue which has become known as "Muriel blue," since she has worn the color through most of the tour. It was styled with a cowl neckline and a belt which looped through a large gold ring in front. A small gold ring pin and earrings completed the outfit. She wore her short graying hair in bangs and styled similarly to the famous Mamie Eisenhower hairdo.

Although Senator Humphrey still has not announced his candidacy, the couple has a long way to travel before the tour is over. They return this week to Washington.

Around the first of December they will go to Miami, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, New York and back to Washington, all in a week's time.

So much traveling would be grueling for most people but Mrs. Humphrey says:

"I'm thoroughly enjoying it and appreciate so much the interest people have shown in us."