

Hillary Clinton Makes It Official

N.Y. Senate Candidates Vows Balance By Lynne Duke

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, February 7, 2000; Page A01 PURCHASE, N.Y., Feb. 6Hillary Rodham Clinton formally launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate today, portraying herself as a "New Democrat" committed to both energetic government and fiscal responsibility while directly addressing criticism that she is an outsider in New York. In perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the long-awaited announcement here, President Clinton, seated on the stage, applauded, laughed and nodded approvingly as his wife and other allies spoke but said not a word himself. Though a resident of New York for only a month, Hillary Clinton justified her candidacy by citing her long career of advocacy for families and children, from improving health care and public education to worker training and child care. "Some people are asking why I'm doing this here and now. That's a fair question," Clinton said. "Here's my answer--nd why I hope you'll put me to work for you: I may be new to the neighborhood. But I'm not new to your concerns." The rousing cheer she received was only a small part of the political theater on display today in the State University of New York at Purchase gymnasium, where about 2,000 supporters gathered with the Clintons, daughter Chelsea, the first lady's mother, Dorothy, and much of New York's Democratic establishment to launch the first lady on her historic campaign. She seemed especially moved by retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who cited another famous first lady in introducing the candidate: "Hillary, Eleanor Roosevelt would love you." As with Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton is one of the most polarizing figures in American politics, and today she made a brief but unmistakable reference to the passions her unprecedented candidacy has created, promising to fight against the "divisive politics of revenge and retribution." Clinton has her political work cut out for her in New York, where she starts off her campaign behind in the polls to her likely GOP rival, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. The mayor took advantage of the morning talk shows today to try to spoil Clinton's party, asking pointedly on CBS's "Face the Nation": "How is it that the Democratic Party can't come up with a candidate for the Senate from the state of New York?" But Clinton hopes she will be buoyed by the large numbers of Democratic voters in New York--particularly in a presidential election year--and the as-yet-to-be-seen assistance of her husband, who has made clear that he sees her election as a crucial part of his political legacy. To whip up enthusiasm, her campaign held more than 500 house parties throughout the state today so that another 25,000 people could, after watching the announcement, listen in on a conference call from the candidate. Clinton seemed transformed today into a political warrior as she finally made official the run she has been tentatively talking about for seven months, ticking off dozens of general and specific stances that she would promote in the Senate. She defined herself as centrist Democrat committed to "welfare reform and better child care for working parents" as well as "more police on the beat and fewer guns on the street." But she received one of her biggest rounds of applause by sounding a more traditional Democratic theme: "No child should grow up in poverty in America in the 21st century." Clinton said she still believes today what she spoke about 30 years ago in her commencement address at Wellesly College, published then in Life magazine. In the ensuing years, she said, she has gotten "a little older, a little blonder, a lot humbler. . . . But I often return to one thing I said way back then: that politics is the art of making possible what appears to be impossible." Laying out the broad issues that have characterized her life's work and the past months of campaigning in New York, she said: "We can strengthen families. We can protect our children. We can improve our schools. We can provide health care to all our citizens. We can bring good jobs to every corner of New York." Howard Wolfson, Clinton's campaign communications director, said the new candidate has been surprised by the extent to which New Yorkers do not know her or the issues she has worked on throughout her life. Because of that, this next phase of her campaign will be focused not only on laying out a campaign platform on issues and policies, but on laying out her individual persona so that people can get to know her as something other than just the first lady. To that end, today's announcement ceremony included the showing of "Hillary," a film produced by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, a close friend of the Clintons who along with her husband, Harry Thomason, worked on Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns. In the 18-minute video, a host of people who have worked with or otherwise known Clinton give testimonials to the various worthy aspects of her character. They included Col. Herbert J. Smith, an ill Persian Gulf War veteran who said he doesn't necessarily agree with her politics. But he described how Clinton intervened to advocate on behalf of him and other veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. "I can't help but admire her for that," Smith said. "She's a beautiful lady." In her speech, Clinton used examples of her record of service to demonstrate what she cares about, such as childhood education, job creation especially for upstate New York, research funds for cancer and other diseases, a new rating system for the entertainment industry to protect children from violence, and after-school programs and other safety nets for children. "For over 30 years, in many different ways, I've seen firsthand the kinds of challenges New Yorkers face today," she said. "I care about the same issues you do. I understand them. I know I can make progress on them. That's why, my friends, I want to be your senator." She laid out her belief in the "six Rs--reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic as well as responsibility, respect and results." "I don't believe government is the source of all our problems or the solution to them," she said. "But I do believe that when people live up to their responsibilities, we ought to live up to ours to help them build better lives. I believe that's the basic bargain we owe to one another." "If you put me to work for you, I'll take these values to the Senate and fight my heart out for you every day," she added. She then launched into a lengthy and specific listing of the goals she would fight for in the Senate. In broad brush, they included higher educational standards and smaller classroom sizes. On the economy, she said she would push to pay down the national debt, strengthen Social Security, increase the minimum wage, cut taxes for middle-income families and press for "equal pay for every woman in every job." On crime, she would stand for tough measures to prosecute hate crimes and otherwise stand against discrimination. She also would press for tougher gun control measures such as licensing all new handgun owners. Clinton pledged to fight against school vouchers, an erosion of family planning, a woman's right to choose an abortion and "any tax cut so big it would take us back to the bad old days of exploding deficits and deep recessions."

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