A More <I>Civil</i> Sequel
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Rick Lazio debated for the second time Sunday in an anticipated rematch in the nation's most closely watched U.S. Senate race.
During a fast-paced hour of issues-oriented, mostly positive debate in New York City, Democrat Clinton broke with her husband's administration on foreign policy. Republican Lazio, a Long Island congressman for eight years, emphasized his record of bipartisan cooperation to pass legislation, by inference reminding the audience that the first lady is a divisive figure who would begin any career in Congress with as many enemies as friends.
In their live, one-hour encounter on WCBS-TV, the candidates fielded questions on taxes, drug policy, abortion, health care, and local issues such racial profiling and air traffic.
| Return To Sender (New York) It's one of the many hoaxes spread through the Internet by e-mail - the warning that somebody in Congress is suggesting a five-cent surcharge on every e-mail you send. But one of the reporters who questioned the two New York Senate candidates at Sunday's debate wasn't aware it was a hoax - and she asked them what they thought of the idea. Hillary Rodham Clinton responded, "Well, based on your description, I wouldn't vote for that bill." She said she supports a moratorium on Internet taxes. Rick Lazio called it "an example of the government's greedy hand." A spokesman for WCBS-TV - which hosted the debate - says moderator Marcia Kramer, who asked the question, took it from e-mail submissions that had been solicited by the station from its viewers. She and the candidates weren't aware that the U.S. Postal Service had sent out an advisory last year, titled "E-mail Rumor Completely Untrue." The rumor names the sponsor of the bill - a congressman who doesn't actually exist. (AP) |
But reporters gasped when just minutes into the debate, WCBS-TV reporter Marcia Kramer - the debate moderator - asked Clinton "why you stayed with your husband." (Kramer said the question came from viewers and readers of her station's Web site). Clinton, who was visibly discomfited in the first debate by a Lewinsky scandal question from NBC's Tim Russert, was not thrown this time.
"I have answered that question," Clinton said. "The choices that I've made in my life are right for me. I can't talk about anybody else's choices. I can only say mine have been based on my religious faith, on my strong sense of family ad what I believe is right and important."
Clinton said her life experiences "give me insights" that will help her serve. For example, she knows "firsthand" about "balancing family and work."
Lazio stayed out of it, making a short gentlemanly remark and quickly transitioning into a riff about his own qualifications for office.
On the Mideast crisis, Clinton made news in the debate by saying the United States should have vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution passed on Saturday that criticizes Israel for its role in eleven days of violence that's continued in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. abstained in that vote - putting the first lady at policy odds with her husband's administration.
Clinton and Lazio were on the same page about who's responsible for the rioting sparked by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon's visit to a Muslim holy place in Jerusalem: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The first lady said the violence is "fomented by Chairman Arafat." Lazio said the U.S. abstention from the U.N. vote "sends the wrong message."
Twelve percent of New York voters are Jewish, so Mideast politics figure prominently in any major statewide or New York City race. New York Governor George Pataki, who was on hand to support fellow Republican Lazio, said Clinton takes credit for administration successes then "distances herself" when it's politically expedient.
Lazio's message du jour was that he can get something done in Congress - and Hillary can't. At least four times, the congressman said he can "cross party lines" to "work well with others," but that contrast was drawn even before Lazio could say a word.
How, asked moderator Kramer in her first question, can Clinton "deliver" for the state when she is "a person the Republicans clearly want to humiliate?"
Having forced the soft money issue to center stage in the race, Lazio got burnt by it on Sunday.
Last week, the Lazio campaign ran statewide TV ads paid for in part by the Republican National Committee (RNC), an unintelligible screw-up that gave the Clinton team the chance to say that Lazio had violated their unwritten deal not to spend money from outside sources.
On Sunday, Clinton came prepared with a few zingers, one of them being, "Last month, Mr. Lazio said this was an issue of trust and character. He was right. And, if New Yorkers can't trust him to keep his word for 10 days, how can they trust him for six years?"
Lazio, who insisted he has not violated the soft money agreement, blasted her back, raising the issue of whether the Clintons have used sleepovers at the White House and Camp David to generate campaign contributions.
"Mrs. Clinton, please, no lectures from Motel 1600," he said, referring to the White House's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address.
The Lazio campaign has refunded the disputed amount to the RNC, but the damage is done. This issue, once a loser or Clinton, has been neutralized.
Asked which of the nine current Supreme Court justices is his model, Lazio named Sandra Day O'Connor, a Reagan appointee who has upheld Roe v. Wade.
Lazio stated his support for a ban on the late term medical procedure that critics call "partial birth abortion" and said Hillary's supporters include someone who has performed the procedure "hundreds of times." After the debate, Lazio spokesman Dan McLagan said the congressman was referring to one of two doctors who "developed" the procedure, who is a contributor to Clinton's campaign.
Clinton responded she could support a ban that makes exceptions for the "life and health of the mother" and said that Republicans make a "political football game" of the issue - instead of writing a new law based on constitutional guidelines provided by Justice O'Connor in a recent High Court decision.
Asked near the end of the debate to define a "New Yorker," Clinton delivered a paean to the Empire State, especially the Big Apple. She quoted the writer E.B. White - who wrote essays about New York for The New Yorker magazine - and she described it as a "magnet for people from all over the world" that "welcomes everyone, including immigrants from Washington, D.C." - a wink at the carpetbagger charges that were the thrust of Lazio's main message earlier in the campaign.
In the political "spin" room afterwards, Gov. Pataki unwittingly provided the morning's funniest moment for reporters and book lovers everywhere.
In an attempt to make Clinton look like an intellectual snob who out's of touch with the people, Pataki ridiculed her allusion to E.B. White, the author of the children's classics Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little as well as the writing handbook The Elements of Style.
"I don't know who he is," Pataki said, unembarrassed.
The governor maintained that New Yorkers in "Brooklyn or Peekskill" don't know who this White is either.
In her closing remarks, Clinton said her campaign was about "jobs, education, health care, Social Security, the environment, and choice". And in his cryptic summing up, Lazio said, "If we don't stand up for something, we'll put up with anything."