Empire State Slugfest

Hillary Clinton didn’t knock Rick Lazio out, but she won the decision in the first debate of their U.S. Senate contest in New York.

Hillary was cool, prepared and poised next to a scrappy Lazio, who seemed angry and overcaffeinated.

Years from now, you won't find their first big debate in the history books next to "Lincoln-Douglas," but there were some dramatic highlights.

The first came when moderator Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press played clips from an interview that Clinton gave early in the Lewinsky scandal where she defended the president. (And no, he was not in the Buffalo audience...) Russert asked her if she regretted "misleading the people."

"I didn't mislead anyone," replied the first lady. "I didn't know the truth."

She was clearly stung by the query, but she kept her footing by talking about running to realize goals "I've worked for for thirty years." And, she slipped in her third of five Newt Gingrich references, intended to cast Congressman Lazio as a tool of the House Republican leadership.

The second dramatic moment came when Republican Lazio challenged Democrat Clinton to swear off campaign "soft money" for the rest of the race.

From his breast pocket, Lazio produced a contract that the campaigns have been sniping over - strictly "inside baseball" until the debate - and challenged Clinton to sign it on the spot.

While Clinton hemmed and hawed her way through her answer, Lazio stepped out from behind his podium and into the personal space of the First Lady of the United States and got "in her face."

"I'm askin' you to sign it," Lazio taunted her. "Right here. Right here. Right here. I want your signature, because I think everyone wants to see you signing something you said you were for!"

Luckily, the bell rang "recess over" before fisticuffs broke out. "We're out of time!" said Russert.

Maybe it was Clinton's incessant beating of the Newt drum (plus two honorable mentions for the House Republican leadership) that caused Lazio to come unglued - but in addition to picking that playground fight behind the podium, he took the only cheap hot of the night.

"Mrs. Clinton, you of all people shouldn't be trying to make guilt by association," said the Long Island congressman, who blamed Hillary for a line item veto by President Clinton that he said cost New York a chunk of Medicare money. "Newt Gingrich isn't running in this race. I'm running in this race!"

On the issues, neither candidate took any chances unveiling new proposals. They stuck to positions outlined on the stump and in their position papers. Still, Clinton just seemed to know her material better.

While Russert hit Clinton hard with an opening question about her failed health care reform plan of 1994, Lazio did not take the opportunity to draw clear policy differences between them on the issue. Instead, he sneered, "A New Yorker would never have made that proposal," and called her effort an "unmitigated disaster" - a point already made in effect by Russert.

Buffalo News reporter Bob McCarthy asked both candidates what they would do for New York's upstate economy, which has languished over the last booming decade.

Both contenders, who have economic plans built around tax credits, were short on specifics. Lazio stressed the need for "new partnerships" and said New York should join the Dairy Compact. Clinton said Lazio's tax cut plan, "like George (W.) Bush's, would blow apart. They're large risky tax schemes."

A local TV anchor quizzed the two on whether either thought a casino on the New York side of the Canadian border might help. Clinton said that was a local decision. Lazio replied, "I'm not a big fan of gambling" - and said it's better to attract high-tech jobs than the "quick hit" of a casino.

Another clear difference was on school vouchers. Clinton said her education plan "builds on public schools" and dollars should not be "siphoned" away from under-funded public schools in the form of vouchers. Lazio, who rolled out his education plan just this week, said he's found a "new funding stream" in the surplus for "scholarships." He studiously avoided the V-word.

Clinton's rhetoric was conspicuously Gore-like. Her riff on her budget priorities could have been cribbed from a stump speech by the Democratic presidential nominee, who's soaring over his GOP rival George W. Bush in the Empire State according to the latest poll numbers.

"I am a New Democrat who supports a balanced budget," said the first lady, capping a short list of spending priorities that includes paying down the debt, "securing" Social Security, adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, and creating a tax credit for long-term care. Like Gore, she included a caveat that the surplus is projected and "not in hand."

(For "wired" reporters, the Lazio campaign engaged in a case of message overkill as the debate unfolded. The evening was repeatedly interrupted by eight e-mails of the Lazio team's "real tim" responses to statements the first lady made during the debate. As for Clinton's campaign, it simply stuck to issuing the standard, post-event press release.)

Throughout the hour-long debate, Clinton cited her "thirty years" of experience a few times and promised to use her "contacts" and "everything at my disposal" to get things done if elected. By contrast, Lazio told the audience twice, "I've been a doer," without explaining himself.

Then, in his closing remarks, the congressman did what he should have done right out of the gate. He described three of his concrete accomplishments on Capitol Hill to create a contrast with Clinton, who has, as his campaign might put it, never done a thing for New York. But it was too late.