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By George, she aims high

Having no serious re-election opponent, Sen. Clinton has picked Bush to be the object of her criticisms

BY GLENN THRUSH | WASHINGTON BUREAU

January 22, 2006

WASHINGTON - New York Republicans haven't yet anointed an opponent to challenge Hillary Rodham Clinton this year, so the senator seems to have selected one herself - George W. Bush.

In the absence of a serious re-election opponent, Clinton has launched a New Year's offensive of sorts against Bush, shelling him for his handling of Iran's nuclear negotiations, problems with the new Medicare prescription system, body armor shortages in Iraq, and slow Hurricane Katrina response.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Clinton hit a critical crescendo, predicting the Bush White House "will go down in history as one of the worst," a remark overshadowed by the furor over her quip that the GOP runs the House of Representatives like a plantation.

"You always want to have an opposition figure that will galvanize your base, and Bush is that figure for Hillary," said GOP operative Nelson Warfield. "Bush energizes her supporters the same way she energizes the Republicans."

But Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said her outspokenness simply reflects her policy of criticizing actions that hurt her constituents.

Clinton will have Bush in her sights again tomorrow, when she barnstorms through Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse to denounce the president's problem-plagued Medicare D prescription program.

Clinton holds commanding 2-to-1 leads over two possible Republican opponents, lawyer Ed Cox and former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, in her re-election bid this year, according to last week's Quinnipiac poll. Former Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro was forced to shut down her imploding campaign under pressure from Republican leaders.

For all the recent chatter about Clinton's lurch to the political center, she still needs to maintain her position as a party leader and attract donors, who have come to expect the kind of paint-peeling anti-Bush tirades routinely offered up by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

That may explain the Two Hillarys persona, says Marist College Poll director Lee Miringoff: She's an even-tempered policy wonk with mainstream positions who often surprises people with her partisan vehemence when speaking to party faithful. "There's a real difference between her partisan and policy sides," Miringoff said. "She has to run as a strong partisan Democrat who can also gobble up a little bit of the middle."

A simpler explanation, confidants say, is she thinks Bush hasn't measured up to the standard her husband set.

"I think that because of her own experiences in the White House she understands how badly the Bush administration has botched, for example, the Katrina response," said a Clinton aide who requested anonymity.