Buffeted by criticism from some of her own supporters, Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged yesterday that she had mishandled her effort to distance herself from President Clinton's offer of clemency to members of a Puerto Rican terrorist group.

The First Lady said she should have consulted Hispanic leaders in New York before suddenly calling for the White House to withdraw the clemency offer.

''I have to admit that the consultation was not what it should have been,'' Mrs. Clinton, who is likely to run for the United States Senate next year, said yesterday during a conference of Hispanic, Asian and black women in Manhattan. ''And that will never happen again.''

The First Lady's acknowledgment of error was narrowly drawn, suggesting she believed that the mistake was not her position on the issue itself, but rather how she handled the political preparation that often precedes such an announcement. Even so, it is unusual for a candidate to admit such a misstep, and her comments came as she faced a third straight day of questions about an issue that has emerged as the first major challenge to her probable candidacy.