New Yorkers Want Full Term From Clinton

Updated 8:34 PM ET May 5, 2005
By MARC HUMBERT

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The majority of New York voters said Hillary Rodham Clinton deserves to be re-elected to the Senate next year, but want her to pledge to serve a full, six-year term if she runs, a statewide poll reported Thursday.

The Democratic former first lady made such a pledge in 2000 when she ran for the Senate. Clinton, leading in the polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has yet to offer such a pledge this time around.

Sixty percent of New York voters surveyed by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said she should pledge to serve a full term if she runs for re-election. Forty-one percent said she should run for president, including 17 percent of Republicans.

There was no immediate comment from Clinton.

Clinton had 2-1 or better leads over several potential Senate opponents and 67 percent of voters said she deserves to be re-elected.

"There doesn't seem to be oomph behind any of the Republicans mentioned as possible challengers," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute.

New York Republicans have been struggling to find a big-name opponent to take on Clinton next year. Republican Gov. George Pataki has said he's not interested and a top political aide to Rudolph Giuliani said recently the former New York City mayor was too busy with private business interests to run for office next year. Both Pataki and Giuliani are believed to be eyeing possible 2008 presidential runs.

Quinnipiac's telephone poll of 1,191 registered voters was conducted April 28-May 2 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Sen. Clinton Bashes Bush on Environment

Updated 12:43 PM ET June 7, 2005
By KAREN MATTHEWS

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NEW YORK (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the Bush administration's record on unemployment, women's rights and the environment, saying it is "intent upon consolidating and abusing power."

"We are living in a time when the other side doesn't want us to see the facts. Facts are inconvenient _ facts about global warming, facts about mercury in the air, facts about people staying unemployed longer," said Clinton, considered a Democratic contender for the presidency in 2008.

The former first lady spoke Monday at a New York Women for Hillary breakfast, which raised $250,000 for her 2006 Senate re-election campaign. She leads potential GOP Senate opponents 2-to-1 in recent polls.......

Sen. Clinton Raises $6M in Past 3 Months

Updated 1:03 PM ET July 15, 2005
By DEVLIN BARRETT

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WASHINGTON (AP) - In a Senate race that could have implications for the 2008 presidential contest, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raised more than $6 million between April and June.

Campaign reports filed by Senate candidates Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the former first lady, a New York Democrat, had $12.6 million cash on hand at the end of last month, even though she has no clear opponent yet.

Manhattan lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in-law of former President Nixon, has begun preparations to challenge Clinton and Republican party officials also are courting Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro as a possible challenger.

Patti Solis Doyle, executive director of Friends of Hillary, said she expects "very well-funded opposition next year."

Clinton's first campaign for Senate in 2000 smashed fundraising records, with she and her Republican opponent, then-congressman Rick Lazio, together spending about $80 million.

A strong showing in next year's Senate race could give added momentum to Clinton's early frontrunner status among possible Democratic candidates in the 2008 presidential race. But a bruising contest could slow her down.

Another closely watched Senate race is in Pennsylvania, where incumbent Republican Rick Santorum is facing a challenge from the son of a former governor.

Santorum raised $3.6 million in three months and reported $5.7 million cash on hand as he prepares to fend off Democratic charges that he is too far to the right on social issues.

The challenger, state treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., reported raising $1.9 million between April and June, ending the period with $1.6 million cash on hand.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., raised about $2.2 million, ending June with $5 million cash on hand. He has raised more than $6 million in preparation for his 2006 campaign.

Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson has amassed $2.3 million for his expected re-election bid next year. He took in $867,000 from April through June, according to his FEC report, although he has not formally announced that he's running for a second Senate term.

That dwarfed the nearly $23,000 for Republican challenger Don Stenberg, who didn't enter the Senate race until late April. Republican candidate David Kramer announced his candidacy on June 28 and will not file a campaign finance report with the FEC until the end of September.

Poll: Clinton Leads Pirro in Possible Race

Updated 3:33 PM ET August 3, 2005
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By MARC HUMBERT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a huge lead over Jeanine Pirro, Westchester County's high-profile Republican district attorney, in a possible 2006 Senate matchup, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll, from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, had Clinton leading Pirro, 63 percent to 29 percent, in a hypothetical matchup.

In May, Pirro announced she would not seek re-election this year, but would run for statewide office in 2006. She indicated she was considering bids for the Senate, for state attorney general or for governor, if Republican Gov. George Pataki did not seek a fourth term.

The poll found Clinton leading another potential Senate challenger, Manhattan lawyer Edward Cox, 64 percent to 26 percent. Cox is a son-in-law of the late President Nixon.

Also the Senate race on the Republican side are John Spencer, a former Yonkers mayor, and William Brenner, a tax attorney from Sullivan County.

The telephone poll of 1,498 registered voters was conducted July 27-Aug. 1 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The poll was released as the New York Post, citing unidentified GOP sources, said Pirro had decided not to challenge Clinton's re-election bid.

A Pirro campaign adviser, Michael McKeon, denied the newspaper report, saying the Senate race "is very much under active consideration."

Pirro was also still considering running for governor or state attorney general, he said. Pataki announced last week that he would not run again.

Adviser: Pirro Will Challenge Clinton

Updated 10:21 AM ET August 8, 2005
By MARC HUMBERT

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Jeanine Pirro, a high-profile prosecutor from the New York City area, said Monday she will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bid for re-election next year.

"I am running against Hillary Clinton because New York state deserves a senator who will give her all to the people of New York for a full term, who will not miss votes to campaign in (presidential) primaries," Pirro said in a statement.

"When Mrs. Clinton first came to us and said she wanted to be a New Yorker, she asked New York to put out a welcome mat and we did," the Westchester County district attorney added. "But now she wants us to re-elect her even though she won't promise to serve out her term and wants to use us as a springboard to the presidency. She's asking us to become her doormat. I believe we deserve better."

There was no immediate comment from Clinton.

Recent national polls have shown the former first lady as the leading contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, although Clinton has said she is completely focused on her re-election bid and is not thinking about running for the White House.

Pirro, 53, said she would formally announce her candidacy on Wednesday.

Pirro has won praise for her Internet stings of would-be child molesters, her work with battered women and her battle against underage drinking. She had often been seen on national television as a commentator on high-profile crimes. In 1997, she made People magazine's "most beautiful people" list.

She has been a supporter of abortion rights.

Pirro was re-elected district attorney in 2001 while her husband, lawyer-lobbyist Albert Pirro, was in federal prison for tax fraud, and he has been an issue in most of her campaigns. In 1986, he refused to release information about his law practice and she had to withdraw as the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor. He is a major Republican fundraiser.

Some top Republicans, including state GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik, had been pressing for Pirro to run against Clinton on the theory that even if she lost the race, the district attorney could bloody the former first lady as she prepares for a possible run for president in 2008.

A statewide poll released last week by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had Clinton leading Pirro, 63 percent to 29 percent.

Also eyeing the GOP Senate nomination are Edward Cox, an attorney who is a son-in-law of the late President Nixon; former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer; and William Brenner, a tax attorney.

see also

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...ST&f=16&t=35201

Pirro's Personal Life Likely to Be Aired

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Updated 1:47 PM ET August 9, 2005

Five years ago, on the first day of her husband's tax evasion trial, Jeanine Pirro heard prosecutors claim that he had illegally deducted their luxury cars, the costs of fighting a paternity suit, even the custom-made pen for their pet pigs, Wilbur and Orville.

"There's not any part of my life that's not in that indictment," Pirro complained as she strode out of federal court.

On Monday, the Westchester district attorney likely signed up for more of the same kind of attention when she announced she would seek the Republican nomination to run against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate.

The spirited Pirro and her wealthy husband, Albert Pirro, a longtime GOP fund-raiser and lobbyist, are favorites of the tabloids. But she has shown she can overcome bad publicity: though her husband was convicted and some of the trial testimony did not reflect well on her, she won a third term as district attorney as he sat in prison.

"Jeanine is going to be judged on her own merits," said Michael Edelman, a Republican commentator and a friend of the Pirros. "The people of New York are sophisticated enough to make a distinction between Jeanine and whatever Al may have done in the past. Besides, it would backfire. Hillary's husband has been impeached. I don't think she's in any position to bring up husbands."

Albert Pirro may have stunted Jeanine Pirro's career, starting in 1986 when she had to give up the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor because he wouldn't release information about his law practice. But there is little doubt about her long-lasting popularity in increasingly Democratic Westchester. Supporting abortion rights and environmental justice while fighting child molesters and wifebeaters, she has been among the GOP's top vote-getters in most of her races for judge and district attorney.

"I'm Republican red on fiscal policy, taxes, and foreign policy and the war on terror, but I've got broad blue stripes on the social issues," Pirro, 54, said Monday.

Her spirited, combative style has won her some recognition beyond the county, as have her regular appearances as a legal commentator on television talk shows and her 1997 selection to People magazine's "most beautiful people" list.

Still, when Pirro announced in May that she would run for some statewide office, the conventional wisdom was that she would probably lose to Clinton but could win if she ran for state attorney general.

As she considered the possibilities and tended to her mother in Elmira, who fell ill with cancer last month "I listened to a lot of people the pundits, the pollsters," Pirro said Monday. "Everybody had an opinion, and ultimately I followed my own heart. It wasn't about the easiest race. It wasn't about where you definitely win."

Even a loss to Clinton could have its benefits if Pirro does some damage to the incumbent, weakening Clinton before the 2008 presidential race, she could raise her status in the national Republican Party. And if she wants to change careers after next year, the campaign against Clinton could make her famous and increase her chances for a national television career.

However, another family friend says Pirro has already turned down such jobs.

"I've been at the dinner parties," said radio station owner William O'Shaughnessy, who has given Albert Pirro a talk show. "Court TV and Fox News would hire her tomorrow if she'd let them."

From CNN




Republican strategist Nelson Warlfield on Jeanine Pirro's plans to challenge Hillary Clinton's bid to remain the senator from NY.

Clinton Inducted Into Women's Hall of Fame

Updated 8:34 AM ET October 9, 2005
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By BEN DOBBIN

SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) - Inspired by Alan Shepard, the first American to journey into space, a 14-year-old from suburban Chicago wrote a letter to NASA in 1961 asking what she needed to do to become an astronaut. She got a curt reply: Girls are not being recruited by the nation's space program.

"It had never crossed my mind up until that point that there might be doors closed to me simply because I was a girl," recalled the letter writer, better known today as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she was enshrined Saturday in the National Women's Hall of Fame, along with nine other inductees.

Honored with her were Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Dr. Rita Rossi Colwell, who became the first female director of the National Science Foundation in 1998; and Betty Bumpers, a crusader for childhood immunizations who was Clinton's predecessor as Arkansas' first lady.

"I don't think there has ever been a better time to be a woman than in the United States of America in the 21st century," Clinton said in an interview.

The first known women's rights convention was held in 1848 in this upstate New York village. The hall, which opened in 1969, acclaims women who have made valuable contributions to society and especially to the freedom of women. In all, 217 women have been chosen by a national committee of judges.

Six women honored posthumously this year included pilot Blanche Stuart Scott, a barnstormer in the early days of aviation; Ruth Fulton Benedict, an anthropologist whose 1934 book, "Patterns of Culture," became an American classic; and Florence Ellinwood Allen, who in 1934 became the first female judge appointed by a president to a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

___

On the Net:

National Women's Hall of Fame: http://www.greatwomen.org

Cox drops out of Senate race

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/14/161928/90

Pirro to Drop N.Y. Senate Bid, Sources Say

Updated 12:27 PM ET December 21, 2005
By MARC HUMBERT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Jeanine Pirro has decided to halt her struggling campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006, two Republicans close to the situation said Wednesday.

She will run instead for state attorney general, the sources said.

The Republicans, who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said an announcement from the high-profile Westchester County district attorney could come as early as Thursday.

There was no immediate comment from Pirro.

One of the Republicans said the knowledge of Pirro's plans came from a direct conversation with her.

The New York Post, quoting unidentified sources close to the Pirro campaign, had reported Wednesday that Pirro would announce the move either Thursday or Friday.

Pirro has been under pressure from top state GOP leaders to make the switch. It would leave Republicans with two active candidates for the Senate nomination, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, who is not well-known statewide, and tax attorney William Brenner, even less well-known.

Some supporters expected Manhattan lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in-law of the late President Richard Nixon, to consider re-entering the race. Cox halted his campaign for the Senate nomination in October after Gov. George Pataki announced his endorsement of Pirro.

Pataki's endorsement was the high point for a troubled Pirro campaign. She has had trouble raising money, and at her announcement in August, a page of her speech was misplaced and she was left speechless for 32 seconds.

Independent polls have shown the former first lady, a potential 2008 presidential contender, with huge leads over Pirro and the other potential GOP challengers. And, as of the end of September, Clinton had about $14 million in her campaign coffers.

Pirro, a supporter of abortion and gay rights, also had major problems in her attempts to court support from leaders of the state Conservative Party. No Republican running statewide in New York has won without Conservative Party support since 1974.

Michael Long, the Conservative Party state chairman, said Wednesday he had always urged Pirro to run for state attorney general rather than the Senate.

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