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Hillary has eyes on White House

Ellis Henican

November 7, 2006

Well, that part was easy.

Hillary Clinton barely broke a sweat on her way to an expected victory of a second term in the U.S. Senate. An underfunded opponent and $40 million later, no one is calling her an "Arkansas carpetbagger" now.

But "Senator from New York" wasn't the only title Hillary was running for this year. She was maneuvering carefully to remain the Democratic front-runner for president in 2008.

That was her true victory.

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This was plain as Hillary voted Tuesday in the beige-brick cafeteria at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua. Oh yeah, Bill was there too.

As Hillary came out from behind the vote-machine curtain, everyone was taking measure -- not of a junior senator returning to Washington. This was a woman with her eye on the White House, and not as First Lady this time.

As she stepped up to the microphones, Hillary made clear that she'd been seriously studying her party's message for the midterms, even if the national Democratic slogan sounded a bit awkward coming from her.

She said she'd just "voted for change."

Up to a point, anyway.

In her own race against former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer (Who? Oh, never mind.), she was definitely voting "more of the same."

That's often how it is with Hillary. Strong preparation. Multi-layered agendas. A certain personal awkwardness. And a nice piece of luck.

Her opponent last time was going to be Rudy Giuliani, until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Her opponent this time was going to be Jeanine Pirro, until she was diagnosed with a big ugly mess at home.

Whatever! It sure beat losing!

The basic route she followed was straight from the Karl Rove's roadmap for George W. Bush. Bush's re-election landslide for Texas governor in 1998 gave him a big advantage when he ran for president two years later. So did family connections, of course. Hillary has those too.

What comes next?

She has the high profile. She'll raise a new pile of money right away. But being the front-runner and winning the race are far from one and the same.

There was one important experience that Hillary's Senate walkover did not provide: The battle-hardening that comes with a tough opponent. Sorry, John Spencer isn't John McCain or Rudy Giuliani and whomever else the Republicans eventually run for president two years from now. He's not even Al Gore, Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, John Kerry, Barak Obama or whatever other Democrats end up in the Democratic field.

That's one way the Republicans actually hurt Hillary, even without trying. They denied her a final chance to sharpen her game.