A run for the White House, or more of a tiptoe?

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has been building a national political network while running for re-election in New York

by Raymond Hernandez

When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton recently headlined a fundraiser for the Governor of New Hampshire, her aides sought to ensure that the event was held not within that State, but rather in nearby Boston, where a visit would not set off frenzied speculation about her political plans.

The October fundraiser earned her some crucial goodwill with the leading elected official in an important presidential primary State within range of the Boston media market. Yet it also reflected how Ms. Clinton delicately goes about building a political network around the country while running for re-election in New York, consciously steering clear of presidential stomping grounds such as New Hampshire and Iowa.

In the last few months, as her political opposition in New York has crumbled, Ms. Clinton has travelled the country, trolling for money to stuff into her already stuffed campaign war chest, visiting hurricane-stricken New Orleans, and offering her support to candidates who can, in turn, be helpful to any national ambitions she may have.

And she has sharpened the tone of her attacks on Republicans, assailing President George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and causing a stir on Monday by saying the House of Representatives was run like a "plantation".

While such behaviour is to be expected for anyone preparing to seek the presidency in 2008, Ms. Clinton is in an altogether different situation from other prominent Democrats who have been openly gearing up for national campaigns by establishing exploratory committees and visiting crucial primary States.

With her New York election just 10 months away, neither she nor her political advisers want to do anything that might suggest that she has ambitions beyond the State, where Republicans once pilloried her as a carpetbagger intent on using the State as a stepping stone for national office.

The fundraiser for the re-election campaign of Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire was held in Boston after Ms. Clinton's advisers suggested that locale. In fact, Ms. Clinton and her advisers appear to have figured out a narrow strategy of how to run for President without actually running for President - though the Clinton camp insists that her sole concern at the moment is winning re-election in New York, and points out that she has been travelling the country helping Democrats for years.

Don Fowler of South Carolina, a former Democratic National Committee Chairman, suggested that Ms. Clinton has been able to pull off this delicate balancing act - "peeling that onion perfectly," as he put it - largely because New York Republicans have yet to find a strong candidate to run against her in the Senate race.

The one candidate on whom New York Republicans had pinned their hopes, Jeanine F. Pirro, the Westchester County district attorney, dropped out of the race last month after her campaign was beset by her public gaffes and lacklustre fundraising.

Mr. Fowler said he doubted that Ms. Clinton would have been willing to embark on such a busy travel schedule outside New York if Republicans had actually recruited a strong candidate to run against her. He said Ms. Clinton was not as tied down in New York as she would be if the Republicans had a "grade-A" candidate opposing her.

Kathleen Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said Democratic officials did not begrudge Ms. Clinton her decision not to visit the State, given the election-year demands she faces in New York. "I think people would love to see her," she said of Ms. Clinton, who was last in New Hapmshire in 1996. "But they understand the practical politics of running for re-election in New York."

Touching bases

Ms. Clinton is still touching her bases in New York, where she earned a reputation as a tireless campaigner in her successful 2000 Senate campaign. In the last two months, Ms. Clinton has made at least 21 public appearances around the State - from New York City and its suburbs to Glens Falls, Syracuse, Schenectady and the Finger Lakes region - and has spent much of the rest of her time at work in Washington.

All the while, she has not ruled out the possibility of running for President in 2008. Paul Begala, who was a political adviser to President Bill Clinton, said Hillary Rodham Clinton had handled questions about a presidential run in the same way George W. Bush dealt with them when he ran for re-election as governor of Taxas in 1998: He told voters he did not know whether he would run for president in 2000.

Only about a year ago, in the wake of Senator John F. Kerry's loss to President Bush, Democrats close to Ms. Clinton argued in private that she should not seek re-election in New York, saying that a 2006 Senate campaign would almost certainly complicate any 2008 presidential bid.

Part of the concern was that Republicans would use the Senate race as an opportunity to batter Ms. Clinton, who remains a polarising figure to many, and force her to spend money and to demand that she promise to serve out her entire second term if re-elected.

There was also concern that the political calendar would be far too tight, even for a politician of Ms. Clinton's considerable abilities.

The Iowa caucuses, for example, are held just 14 months after Election Day 2006, meaning she would have to turn around and start running for President soon after beginning another Senate term.

But with New York Republicans still scrambling to find a candidate to run against her, those concerns seem to have abated. Now, as Ms. Clinton travels the country, democrats say that she is in the position to collect favours that may, in turn, benefit her down the road. Democrats around the country regard her as their party's top fundraising attraction and most articulate representative in this period of Republican dominance.

By and large, Ms. Clinton's visits around the country have drawn the kind of reaction one would expect with a person of her celebrity and political stature. Recently, for example, Ms. Clinton made a trip to hurricane-battered sections of New Orleans, where she was trailed by national reporters as she met scores of displaced residents, many of whom spoke openly about their hope that the celebrity Senator's visit would help refocus the nation's attention on their plight.

A polarising figure?

But for all the enthusiasm Ms. Clinton stirs in her travels, there are plenty of signs that she remains a polarising figure in much of the country. During her trip to Kentucky, for example, local Republicans sought to cause a political ruckus, portraying her as a New York liberal and saying that she would be a political liability for Democrats in a red State such as Kentucky.

Still, several Democratic strategists argue that the goodwill that Ms.

Clinton is building in her travels with rank-and-file Democrats, as well as Democratic leaders, will only make her even tougher to beat in 2008, at least in the race for the presidential nomination. Mr. Fowler said that "if she continues doing favours for everyone as magnanimously, it's possible that she will shut out options for any practical opposition."

(Courtesy The Hindu)