Election Losers. The unprecedented Republican victories on November 5 reflected very well on President Bush, and they also reflected very poorly on Hillary Clinton. Sen. Clinton’s political action committee, HILLPAC, distributed millions of campaign dollars to candidates who were up for re-election, and the former First Lady made campaign appearances for many Democrats, yet the candidates she supported financially or in person ended up doing miserably. Her most prominent failures include her handpicked choice for New York governor, Carl McCall, who lost to George Pataki by nearly 20 points. Katherine Harris, who has been demonized by Democrats for her role in the 2000 presidential election, beat Hillary’s old classmate, Jan Schneider, for a seat in the U.S. House. Hillary also heavily associated herself with Shannon O’Brien, who lost to Mitt Romney in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. Hillary also campaigned for Sen. Jean Carnahan in Missouri and gave $10,000 to New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, and they both lost. Finally, Bill and Hillary’s choice to head the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, may very lose his job over the dismal performance of Democrats across the country. Hillary’s choice for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, Chris Van Hollen, did defeat eight-term incumbent Connie Morella after pro-Democratic redistricting. Interestingly, now Bob Dole will join Bill Clinton in the Senate spouse’s club.
Hill Betrays McCall. Hillary must have seen the writing on the wall for McCall’s candidacy. Only a few days before Election Day, she crossed party lines to join Gov. Pataki for a ribbon-cutting at an upstate plant. She was all smiles with the Republican governor at the opening of the Scienx plant at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome. Pundits said it appeared Sen. Clinton was hedging her bets with the likely winner, much as she had prominently marched in a parade with McCall even though she was supposedly neutral in his Democratic primary against Andrew Cuomo. At the event’s press conference, Gov. Pataki thanked Hillary "for her aggressiveness" and for doing a "great, great job" in getting the Georgia-based company to bring 500 jobs upstate. Mrs. Clinton, for her part, told reporters that "I appreciate greatly the governor’s strong support and tireless efforts in making this happen." As the cameras clicked, Pataki quietly told Hillary, "I don’t want to get you in trouble." When Rep. Charlie Rangel heard about Hillary’s joint appearance with Pataki, he said, "Shame on her."
Cancel Those 2004 Plans. The day after the elections, the New York Times ran a story about how many Democratic presidential aspirants would have to rethink their plans for 2004. Although she has been running a close second to Al Gore in opinion polls as the candidate whom Democrats would most support for President, the 2002 debacle must have Hillary carefully reconsidering her timeline. In fact, the Times reports that a person close to Sen. Clinton said she was adamant about not running in 2004 and that her negative ratings were still too high to venture out now. Plus her "values" are probably too liberal for the rest of the country. The source said, "We need a candidate who can, without compromising the essence of who we are, reach across the values divide, which is the divide that sunk us yesterday, and I’m not sure she can do that. I have no doubt she’s planning to run in 2008. That’s the plan and they’ll stick to it, especially if they think 2004 is a loser." If Hillary plans to run in 2008, that will give her two more election cycles to help Democratic candidates across the country with campaign contributions and appearances, piling up more political chits for the senator.
Gifts Keep on Giving. Although the federal investigations of the various Clinton scandals have been reportedly put on the back-burner, it was recently revealed that the Justice Department has been investigating the controversial handling of gifts by Bill and Hillary Clinton as they left the White House and she entered the Senate. A spokesman for Rep. Doug Ose (R-Calif.), who just concluded a probe of the Clintons’ gifts, said that the department requested new information on the matter as recently as mid-September. A Justice spokesman, however, refused to discuss the probe, and aides to the Clintons said they were unaware of an investigation. "Despite a concerted effort to turn a partisan preoccupation into a gift that keeps on giving, there is nothing new here," said Philippe Reines, spokesman for Hillary. He also mentioned that the senator’s office knows nothing of the probe. Nevertheless, a well-placed source said Justice has reviewed a huge pile of committee documents and interviewed witnesses, and scores of previously undisclosed gifts to the Clintons from well-heeled friends have been discovered.
