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Hillary in the Hamptons

Sen. Clinton arrives ready to raise funds in East End; curtails questions about debate before primary

BY CHAU LAM | Newsday Staff Writer

August 12, 2006

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton kicked off her Long Island fundraising tour Friday with an announcement about federal funding to save the shorelines and sidestepped whether she'd debate primary challenger Jonathan Tasini.

Tasini, a critic of Clinton's support for the Iraq invasion, has demanded five debates with her before the Sept. 12 primary. Clinton was noncommittal when pressed on the matter Friday.

"Well, we'll just have to see how the campaign develops," Clinton said at Overlook Beach in Babylon town.

When a reporter asked her about her goals for the weekend, Clinton said she would like to have fun but added that raising money is part of the political system.

"I am lucky enough to have a lot of friends and supporters who are trying to help me by raising money so that I can wage a vigorous campaign and hopefully win re-election," she said.

At Windmill Lane in East Hampton, the private road where she arrived after 7 p.m. for a fundraiser in a low-slung, white residence with a pebble driveway, police ordered photographers and reporters to keep at least 25 feet back.

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are reportedly staying overnight at a $9.4 million house nearby owned by Manhattan financier Terry Meehan.

Meehan, 58, a longtime Clinton backer and one-time Georgetown University schoolmate of the ex-president, was expected to be out of town. He's lending out the 6.4-acre spread for the party, according to a source. Earlier in the afternoon at a news conference, there was one awkward moment between Sen. Clinton and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. They had joined local children on the sand to plant beach grass to prevent erosion. When Clinton tried to rise from a seated position, Levy attempted to help her up by placing his hands under her armpits. Clinton resisted and warned him that they might fall into the pit.

Clinton has also resisted Tasini's attempts at getting her to debate him. In a letter to Sen. Clinton last week, Tasini suggested that one debate focus exclusively on the war in Iraq and the Middle East, and that another be held in Buffalo, a city that has lost manufacturing jobs, to discuss the state's economy.

Tasini, the former head of the National Writers Union, has raised about $100,000 from donors. Clinton had amassed $22 million before the Hamptons trip.

Glenn Thrush and Mitchell Freedman contributed to this story.