Hillary declares candidacy for Senate

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB. 7. The U.S. First Lady, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has made it official. She is seeking the Senate seat from New York that is being vacated by Mr. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The formal announcement at a State University campus in Purchase, New York on Sunday sets at rest more than six months of speculation of whether or not the she will run for Senate from this State.

``I may be new to the neighbourhood, but I'm not new to your concerns'', Mrs. Clinton remarked in an obvious reference to her critics who have been calling her a ``carpet bagger'' and one who has no business running for office from the State of New York. But Mrs. Clinton is not the first to ``adopt'' New York as her home. In 1964, Robert Kennedy, the brother of the former President, John F. Kennedy, moved to New York to run for the Senate and won there.

In additional to all her concerns on the domestic front that included education, health care and hate crimes, the First lady also talked about foreign policy. ``I'll be on your side in the fight for a safer world, to pass the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, to strengthen our defences against biological, chemical and cyber terrorism, to provide debt relief to the poorest countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia and to work for peace, from Northern Ireland to Bosnia and Kosovo, to Greece and Turkey, to India and Pakistan and to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East which finally guarantees Israel's security'', Mrs. Clinton said.

``The President will do anything he can do to help her in her election bid. And that will include campaigning for her, I think'', said the White House Chief of Staff, Mr. John Podesta. The President, Mr. Bill Clinton, daughter Ms Chelsea Clinton, and Mrs. Clinton's mother, Ms Dorothy Rodham, were on hand at the campus gymnasium as the First Lady made her announcement. Mrs. Clinton, in the process, created a record of sorts of becoming the first U.S. President's wife to seek political office.

Even while making the formal move into Washington politics all over again, Mrs. Clinton was under no illusion of what was in store in the next few months by way of a campaign fight. ``I know it won't be an easy campaign. But, hey, this is New York'', Mrs. Clinton told cheering supporters on Sunday. Opinion polls have shown that the First Lady and her ``likely'' opponent, the Mayor of New York, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, are running neck and neck; but many polls have shown that the Mayor has a slight lead at this point of time.

For the Democrats and the Hillary campaign organisation, it is a tough challenge from now on; and this stems from not only the fact that Mr. Giuliani is a tough no-nonsense campaigner and one who could get on to really painful political blows if only this is going to deliver the goods. For her part, Mrs. Clinton is not a pushover by any stretch of imagination, but she comes under the microscope not just as a candidate in the Senate race but as the wife of a sitting President whose policies will have to be defended or distanced from during the course of the campaigning.

Mrs. Clinton, in the last six months, had a taste of what New York style of politics is all about when she was bitterly criticised for her visit to West Asia and in some critical remarks by the wife of the Palestinian leader against Israel. More recently, the First Lady took some flak for not coming out in the open on what she felt about the six-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, who is caught up in a political game between Washington, Havana and anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Florida.

The Hillary campaign has not made it known as to the extent to which the President will be campaigning for the candidate. Mr. Clinton has made it known that he is always there for his wife, but all indications are that this race will primarily be the First Lady's show - her ideas, issues and style. Over all, in the elections of 2000, this Senate race from New York will not only be one of the most difficult but also one that will see a lot of media attention.

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