Hillary Clinton set to make formal announcement for New York Senate seat
February 4, 2000
Web posted at: 2:43 p.m. EST (1943 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- After months of speculation -- and an unequivocal confirmation last November -- first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to formally announce her candidacy Sunday for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
The planned announcement will launch what is certain to be one of the most watched U.S. Senate races in history, as for the first time, the wife of a sitting U.S. president will run for public office.
The first lady's colorful life and broad background as a lawyer and a political activist has come under close scrutiny by the New York press and most of the state's citizens, many of whom have expressed some amount of wariness about why a native of Chicago, who has lived most of her adult life in Little Rock and Washington, would want to take up residence in the Empire State.
Mrs. Clinton's expected Republican opponent, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, is also perhaps one of the most recognizable up-and-coming figures on the national political stage.
Giuliani, widely credited for making the boroughs of New York City more "livable" while overseeing a sharp reduction in violent crime across the city, has been widely criticized for what political opponents see as strong-armed tactics to control the behavior of Manhattan's homeless population, street vendors and cab drivers.
The New York mayor has not yet announced his intention to run for the open seat, but rumors have swirled about his plans for nearly 18 months -- before anyone suggested Mrs. Clinton would be a viable Democratic candidate.
Mrs. Clinton's long road to Chappaqua
The events leading up to the first lady's expected announcement might best be described as a media-fueled odyssey, propelled further by months of political intrigue and a furiously churning rumor mill.
Moynihan, one of the most recognizable faces in the Senate and a long-time champion on social aid issues -- welfare for example -- decided to retire from office in November of 1998, just days after Charles Schumer, a Democratic House member from Manhattan, bounced Republican Alfonse D'Amato -- the chairman of the now defunct Whitewater investigative committee -- out of his Senate seat.
Democratic operatives immediately set about to determine who might be a big enough name to replace Moynihan, and keep Giuliani at bay, should he decide to run.
Mrs. Clinton's name went into circulation in just days.
"She is widely accepted in the state of New York," said New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli at the time. Torricelli is chairman of Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is charged with recruiting Senate candidates and keeping their campaigns flush with funds.
"She is universally known without the difficulties of organizing or raising funds," Torricelli said.
In the ensuing months, Mrs. Clinton worked to deflect any questions about her potential plans to jump into the race, but behind the scenes she burned up the telephone lines as she took stock of what the party faithful might think. She received a significant amount of support from Schumer and Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, the ranking Democratic member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee.
"If Giuliani thought Hillary Clinton was a candidate, he'd be looking for a job," Rangel said in January of 1999.
Skip ahead to July of 1999, when Mrs. Clinton launched a "listening tour" of the Empire State.
In effect, the cat was out of the bag.
"I have some real work to do, to get out and listen and learn from the people of New York, and demonstrate that what I am for is as important if not more important than where I am from," she said on July 7, 1999.
By the end of the summer, President and Mrs. Clinton were looking for houses in the New York suburbs, saying they will have to settle somewhere once the president's second term comes to an end. They soon set their sites on a large house in the Westchester County town of Chappaqua.
Confirmation
On November 23, what is by now the worst-kept secret in national politics became official -- to a point. When pressed, Mrs. Clinton told a teacher's union conference she will declare her candidacy in a matter of weeks.
"Yes, I intend to run," she said to enthusiastic applause.
She and the president soon began a "commuter" marriage. She moved into the Chappaqua house while the president stayed in Washington.
With Sunday's announcement, the fight begins in earnest for the first lady.
The Republican establishment is irked at the first lady's candidacy, and has set up a special fund-raising efforts on the Internet. Guiliani has established a considerable war chest -- $12 million by some estimates. And, the Republicans say they have one thing working in their favor: Mrs. Clinton's year of legwork in New York will not pay off, because with all the chatter and all the speculation, her star is starting to fade among New York voters.
"The celebrity has come and gone," says Pat Harrison, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee. "Celebrity gave her an uptick in the polls. Very exciting. Move in."
"But it also works against her, because one doesn't believe this is somebody who is going to knuckle down and be a senator," Harrison said.
The Clinton camp would of course beg to differ. This Senate race hasn't officially kicked off, but it has been under close watch for more than a year. The attention that is being heaped on her efforts in the Empire State is not likely to diminish.
CNN's Frank Buckley contributed to this report, which was written by Ian Christopher McCaleb.
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