Politics

Guess Who's Backing Hillary

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 16, 1999 / 10:45 AM EST / CBS

President Clinton has breathed added life into the nation's hottest piece of political speculation by saying that his wife would make a "terrific" U.S. senator.

The possibility that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton may run for the New York Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 2000 has political tongues wagging inside and outside the Beltway.

The Hillary-for-Senate movement started as wishful thinking by a handful of New York Democrats faced with the daunting task of finding a candidate strong enough to keep Moynihan's seat in Democratic hands - a task that will be even more difficult if New York City's popular Republican mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, decides to enter the race.

Over the past month, speculation about Mrs. Clinton's intentions has grown more and more intense, partly because she has done nothing to discourage such talk. And now even her husband has joined the chorus.

"I think she would be terrific in the Senate, but it's her decision to make. I will support whatever decision she makes enthusiastically," Mr. Clinton told reporters during a break in a meeting Monday with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

Mrs. Clinton traveled to Mexico with the president and made a rare appearance in the press cabin of Air Force One when she joined her husband in handing out Valentine's Day chocolates.

The president said the idea of running for the Senate was not Mrs. Clinton's: "I think it's important that everyone understands that people in New York started calling her. I don't think it ever occurred to her before a lot of people started calling and asking her to do it."

In an apparent reference to the distractions of his impeachment battle, which ended in his acquittal last week, the president said Mrs. Clinton had been too busy to think about a Senate bid.

"I'm sure you'll understand she hasn't had anything like adequate time to talk to the people who think she should do this, much less the people who think perhaps she shouldn't. She just hasn't had time to deal with it," he said.

There have been reports Mrs. Clinton would meet within the next two weeks with New York's other senator, Democrat Charles Schumer, to discuss a bid. The first lady's spokeswoman, Marsha Berry, has said Mrs. Clinton would begin thinking about a run now that the Senate trial is over.