Hillary vs. Rudy, Part II. Although their dream match-up never materialized in 2000, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mrs. Clinton are having a proxy-battle of sorts as they raise cash and campaign for candidates from Maine to California this fall. They both have worked hard to restore New York’s political prominence. Giuliani has become the Republicans’ most popular draw next to President Bush, party strategists say, holding fundraisers for at least 30 GOP candidates and visiting nearly 20 states. Hillary, for her part, has raised millions for Dem candidates through her own political action committee, and she plans to visit 14 states for Democrats. However, a big difference between the two political titans is that Hillary’s allure doesn’t really work in the South and Midwest. Republican candidates there are actually using her name and image to bring down their opponents, while Mayor Giuliani continues to enjoy heartfelt, nonpartisan support across America. Political experts are drooling over the possibility of a Hillary vs. Rudy Presidential campaign in 2008.
Plum Positions. Sen. Clinton wants two federal agencies to investigate safety and labor practices at New York’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center off the northeast tip of Long Island because of concerns raised by the 10-week strike there by support workers. She recently asked Adm. Thomas Collins, the commandant of the Coast Guard, to investigate a series of accidents involving island ferries operated by replacement workers, and then she called for an investigation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture lab by the agency’s inspector general because of ferry accidents and other problems observed by her staff during two visits to the island since the strike began. In a letter to Joyce Fleishman, USDA acting inspector general, Hillary said there should be a re-examination of the current system of having the support workers employed by a contractor instead of the USDA. However, what the Democrats’ complaints boil down to is that management of Plum Island wants to keep the replacement workers permanently.
Presidential Polls. A Newsweek poll of 991 registered Democratic voters conducted October 10-12 found that 23% said they would "most like to see the Democrats nominate" Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2004, while 25% said they preferred Al Gore. Unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton, her numbers dropped to 16% for those who would like to see her run in 2008, and more than half (55%) of all Americans say they’d rather not see her run for President at all. Among registered voters, if the general election were held today and voters had to choose between Sen. Clinton as the Democratic candidate and President George W. Bush as the Republican, 58% say they’d vote for Bush or lean toward voting for him; 38% say they’d vote for or lean toward voting for Hillary. Former Vice President Gore scored even more weakly in a similar match-up with President Bush. The poll also revealed that voters remain deeply divided over Hillary’s rise to high political office, with 49% saying she has established herself as a political leader in her own right and 42% saying she is in a high political position only because she is the wife of a former President.
N.Y. Gov Race Still On? Despite polls that show Democrat Carl McCall losing decisively to GOP Gov. George Pataki, Hillary hasn’t given up on her and Bill’s gubernatorial prot??©g??©. At a breakfast in Manhattan with prominent women, McCall was praised by Hillary for being there "when supporting women wasn’t cool." Sen. Clinton went on to say: "You can’t overlook the kind of message that Carl has-of opportunity and education and hope. We have a chance to elect someone who will go to Albany and put those values into practice." Though McCall was trailing Pataki in the polls with only seven days to go, Hillary promised there would be "surprised pundits come next Tuesday."
Partisan Thrill for Hill. Newsweek reports that "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton slips behind closed doors to reveal what she really thinks about George W. Bush. She did so recently at a private fund-raiser in Los Angeles for Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan of Missouri. Her voice dripping with a blend of scorn, indignation and alarm, she tartly informed the carefully vetted crowd below that Bush merely had been ‘selected’ President, not elected." Ironically, Sen. Carnahan, the woman Hillary was ostensibly campaigning for, was "selected" in a much truer sense than anyone else, considering that it was her dead husband who won the election and the governor of Missouri who then installed the widow as senator. But Hillary continued her Bush-bashing: "You know, I’m a fan of Clintonomics, and this administration is destroying in months our eight years of economic progress." Then, in a backhanded compliment to the Bush team, she told her audience that "you have got to hand it to them. These people are ruthless, and they are relentless."
