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Win was just a bit too easy

Ellis Henican

1:56 AM EST, November 8, 2006

Well, that part was easy.

Hillary Clinton barely broke a sweat on her way to 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 Tuesday night.

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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 voting 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. Multilayered 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, later diagnosed with a big ugly mess at home.

Whatever! It sure beat losing!

After her landslide victory, Hillary thanked New Yorkers, assuring them: "I am prepared to roll up my sleeves and get to work."

That victory had not been a foregone conclusion -- not at the beginning anyway. Despite the twin advantages of Washington incumbency -- the campaign money that office-holders attract so easily, and the favors they can freely dispense -- Senate re-election bids can be a whole lot more dangerous than they look. Just ask Rick Santorum. Ask George Allen. On the way to Election Day, those two Republican senators saw their presidential hopes turn to dust.

So Hillary's re-election didn't happen by accident. She'd spent $30 million by mid-October, more than any other candidate spent anywhere this year. That included $2.6 million passed along to other Democrats. She hopes they'll remember her come primary time.

And the basic route she followed was straight from 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.

The big question is 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.