The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, November 9,
2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Hillary wins Senate seat
From Vasantha Arora

WASHINGTON, Nov 8 — Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday won a US Senate seat from New York to become the first presidential spouse in American history to get elected to any public office.

After one of the longest and costliest poll campaigns she defeated her Republican rival Rick Lazio, a sitting member of the House of Representatives. Mr Lazio, however, managed to retain his House seat to which too election was held on Tuesday.

The winner thanked a crowd of supporters, promising to fight for them in the Senate. “Thank you, New York,” she remarked immediately after her election to the institution that acquitted her husband, President Bill Clinton, after his impeachment by the House of Representatives.

The 16-month-long campaign cost the two candidates about $50 million. The fight was over the seat vacated by retiring Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Before entering the Senate, Mr Moynihan had a brief stint as US Ambassador to India in the 1970s.

According to exit polls, 58 per cent of those who voted for Hillary Clinton were women. The polls showed that 52 per cent said the carpetbagger issue did not matter. She was an outsider and not a New Yorker. Hillary Clinton also won 58 per cent of the Jewish vote, according to the polls.

President Clinton campaigned for Hillary who went all out to defend him in all his political and personal crises, including his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Even after the disclosure, Hillary proclaimed she still loved him.

She gave up her law practice to support her husband’s political campaigns. Hillary Clinton rescued her husband by going on television to defend him when in 1992, cabaret singer Gennifer Flowers alleged she had had a 12-year affair with President Clinton.

With the victory, Hillary Clinton, 53, ended 24 years of being known as the wife of a politician, albeit one who was elected President of the USA, says the New York Times.

Hillary arrived at the White House after serving as First Lady of Arkansas for 12 years. During that time she had managed many roles: wife, mother and homemaker; full-time partner in a law firm; and chairwoman of an education committee that set public school standards in Arkansas.

On many occasions Hillary has spoken about the need “to find the right balance in our lives.” For her, the elements of that balance are family, work and public service.

Hillary Diane Rodham was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1947, daughter of Hugh and Dorothy Rodham. Her father owned a fabric store and her mother was a full-time mother and homemaker. Her mother encouraged Hillary to go to college and pursue a profession, even though she had never done so herself.

Hillary and her younger brothers, Hugh and Tony, grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, as a close-knit family. Her brothers played football, while Hillary enjoyed tennis, swimming, ballet, softball, volleyball and skating. An excellent student, she was also a Girl Scout and a member of the local Methodist youth group.

She entered Wellesley College in 1965. Graduating with honors, she moved on to Yale Law School, where she served on the Board of Editors of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action. It was there too that she met Bill Clinton, a fellow student.

In 1973 Hillary became a staff attorney for the Children’s Defence Fund. A year later she was recruited by the impeachment inquiry staff of the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives. Hillary left Washington and “followed her heart to Arkansas,” marrying Bill Clinton in 1975. The couple taught together on the law faculty of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Their daughter, Chelsea, was born in 1980.

In Arkansas, Hillary worked tirelessly on behalf of children and families. She founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served on the board of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Like her predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton brought her own special talents to the role of First Lady. Since her arrival at the White House, she has taken delight in using it as a showcase for the performing arts, American cuisine, and crafts. The President appointed her to head his task force on national health care reform, one of his highest priorities on taking office.

As the President remarked, “We have a First Lady of many talents ... who most of all can bring people together around complex and difficult issues to hammer out consensus and get things done.” — IANS