How's She Doin'?

It may be the shortest month of the year, but February packed in plenty of fanfare for Hillary 2000: The official launch of the campaign, a heavy schedule of policy speeches and rallies throughout the state, and, for the first time, the candidate began taking on her opponent herself, lashing out at Rudy Giuliani's campaign style as well as his stand on the issues.

It would seem to follow, then, that all this attention and activity would give Hillary Clinton a bump in the polls. It did not. Even if all New York is now Hillary's stage, she's still getting mixed reviews.

The latest Marist College poll, the first since Hillary's formal announcement, shows her lagging behind Giuliani, 41 percent to 47 percent (with a +/-4 percent margin of error). This is virtually unchanged from last month. A CBS News/New York Times poll shows them closer, with Giuliani at 47 percent to Mrs. Clinton's 46 percent, but again, those numbers have barely changed since October.

So who's winning? As always, that depends on whom you ask.

"Movement in this race is going to be measured in inches, not yards, and we're moving in the right direction," says Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson.

"Mrs. Clinton staged a Hollywood-like, scripted, choreographed announcement," says Giuliani campaign manager, Bruce Teitelbaum, "and then she toured around the state, in a heavily choreographed manner ... I think that New Yorkers reject that kind of scripted, not real kind of campaign. I think they contrast that with the mayor's authoritative, straightforward, honest approach to things."

The polls still report each candidate's trouble spot: Hillary Clinton and the soccer moms, Rudy Giuliani and the minority vote. The polls show New Yorkers are infatuated with the race, but a striking 48 percent of them would like to have another choice, another candidate in the race. Giuliani's campaign manager dismisses that number, calling it contradictory to the fact that his candidate has a 60 percent favorable rating.

Diana Olick

Mrs. Clinton's campaign declined to comment on that one. The Marist College poll shows her favorable rating at an immovable 50 percent.

The polls also show that New Yorkers believe Hillary Clinton is more interested in the issues, while Guiliani is on the attack. Again, Teitelbaum disputes that perception.

"The mayor has a full-time job. He works every day," he says. "Mrs. Clinton is a full-tie politician now. She has nothing else to do but engage in politics. Obviously the perception is going to be that that person is out there talking about issues."

And, don't forget: "It was not the mayor's camp who called Giuliani goons and thugs, that was the Clinton campaign."

On that point, the Clinton campaign said the poll was right on target.

"We're running a campaign of issues and ideas and the mayor is running a camp of insults," says Wolfson.

And so the first official month of Hillary 2000 ends with less fanfare than it began. Mrs. Clinton wound it up back on familiar turf, joining her husband at a State Dinner for the King and Queen of Spain. But she moved quickly from the foie gras and lobster back to the local diner near her new home in Chappaqua. Dont worry, she left a $5 tip on a $15 breakfast. Apparently, something did change this month.