For Hillary, six years make a difference

In 1999, Hillary Rodham Clinton was skewered as an outsider from Illinois and Arkansas who would get her comeuppance at the hands of the mayor of New York City.Today, she appears to be coasting to a 2006 Senate re-election victory that could set her up for a White House run two years later.

“It’s the difference between night and day,” said Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson. “It’s the difference between being a sitting first lady running in a state she had never lived in, to being a successful senator representing New York.”Independent polls show Clinton with solid approval ratings and far ahead of the potential Republican competition.She also has a ton of money in the bank, about US$14 million as of the end of September and still counting.On Tuesday, she and her famous husband hosted 900 people at US$500 a plate in New York City.And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the state’s tumultuous Republicans don’t have a Rudolph Giuliani-like candidate waiting to take her on this time around.The Republican Party is in such a muddle, it can’t agree on a candidate, period.On Monday, the leaders of the state Republican Party told Jeanine Pirro, the former first lady’s best-known opponent, that she should drop out of the Senate race and run instead for state attorney general.Since Pirro’s gaffe-marred formal announcement, when she lost a page from her speech and stood silent for 32 seconds, fundraising has lagged.And The New York Post has reported that her own husband was working behind the scenes to get her out of the Senate race.Pirro says she’s still in the race, but many Republican leaders believe it’s a question of when she drops out, not if.”Hillary Clinton is probably laughing hysterically at the Republican chaos,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who worked on President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, but is not part of his wife’s campaign team.Republican strategist Nelson Warfield said there is still hope for the Republicans.”As soon as Jeanine Pirro’s sitcom gets cancelled, voters can start tuning in on Hillary Clinton’s failures,” said Warfield, a top aide on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential run.”Her time in the Senate has done a lot for Hillary, but not a lot for New York.”Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is sceptical about Republican chances.”It’s hard to knock off any incumbent, but particularly an incumbent who has a zillion dollars, 100 per cent name recognition and who works at the job,” Carroll said.Still, Wolfson noted that after then-New York City Mayor Giuliani left the Senate race in May 2000 in the face of prostate cancer, the Republican’s understudy, then-US Rep.Rick Lazio, raised a quick US$40 million.The little-known Lazio wound up losing to Clinton by 12 percentage points.”But that doesn’t mean whoever we end up running against (in 2006) isn’t going to be well-funded,” Wolfson said.”Given that, we need to prepare.”Keeping the money flowing has another benefit for Clinton.Any money she doesn’t spend in 2006 could be used for a 2008 run for the White House.Most polls have her leading the Democratic field for the nomination.Warfield said the Republican side could suffer on the money front.”There’s a limited universe of donors out there and they’ve been revved up about Pirro, and then Pirro flames out on them,” he said.If Pirro does bow out of the Republican Senate race, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and tax attorney William Brenner are actively seeking the nomination.-Nampa-AP”It’s the difference between being a sitting first lady running in a state she had never lived in, to being a successful senator representing New York.”Independent polls show Clinton with solid approval ratings and far ahead of the potential Republican competition.She also has a ton of money in the bank, about US$14 million as of the end of September and still counting.On Tuesday, she and her famous husband hosted 900 people at US$500 a plate in New York City.And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the state’s tumultuous Republicans don’t have a Rudolph Giuliani-like candidate waiting to take her on this time around.The Republican Party is in such a muddle, it can’t agree on a candidate, period.On Monday, the leaders of the state Republican Party told Jeanine Pirro, the former first lady’s best-known opponent, that she should drop out of the Senate race and run instead for state attorney general.Since Pirro’s gaffe-marred formal announcement, when she lost a page from her speech and stood silent for 32 seconds, fundraising has lagged.And The New York Post has reported that her own husband was working behind the scenes to get her out of the Senate race.Pirro says she’s still in the race, but many Republican leaders believe it’s a question of when she drops out, not if.”Hillary Clinton is probably laughing hysterically at the Republican chaos,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who worked on President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, but is not part of his wife’s campaign team.Republican strategist Nelson Warfield said there is still hope for the Republicans.”As soon as Jeanine Pirro’s sitcom gets cancelled, voters can start tuning in on Hillary Clinton’s failures,” said Warfield, a top aide on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential run.”Her time in the Senate has done a lot for Hillary, but not a lot for New York.”Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is sceptical about Republican chances.”It’s hard to knock off any incumbent, but particularly an incumbent who has a zillion dollars, 100 per cent name recognition and who works at the job,” Carroll said.Still, Wolfson noted that after then-New York City Mayor Giuliani left the Senate race in May 2000 in the face of prostate cancer, the Republican’s understudy, then-US Rep.Rick Lazio, raised a quick US$40 million.The little-known Lazio wound up losing to Clinton by 12 percentage points.”But that doesn’t mean whoever we end up running against (in 2006) isn’t going to be well-funded,” Wolfson said.”Given that, we need to prepare.”Keeping the money flowing has another benefit for Clinton.Any money she doesn’t spend in 2006 could be used for a 2008 run for the White House.Most polls have her leading the Democratic field for the nomination.Warfield said the Republican side could suffer on the money front.”There’s a limited universe of donors out there and they’ve been revved up about Pirro, and then Pirro flames out on them,” he said.If Pirro does bow out of the Republican Senate race, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and tax attorney William Brenner are actively seeking the nomination. -Nampa-AP