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"I consider myself a New Democrat," the senator said. "I am very proud of the political identity developed by Democrats during the Clinton administration."
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This is really what the Democrats need.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2003Mar4.html
Clinton Develops Into a Force in the Senate
Growing Role in Policy, Fundraising Fuels Talk of '08 Campaign
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By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2003; Page A01
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, after lying low for most of her first two years, is emerging as one of the Senate's most prominent and influential Democrats, moving aggressively on fundraising and policy matters and fueling speculation that she plans to run for president in 2008.
The only first lady to have served in the Senate, Clinton is playing a key role in a behind-the-scenes effort to create at least one new political group, funded with so-called soft money, to promote the Democratic agenda in the 2004 elections and beyond, Democratic officials said. With her help, leading Democrats are putting the finishing touches on a new "activist think tank" designed to crank out policy ideas and disseminate them to voters without running afoul of the new campaign finance laws, the officials said.
"She's strongly encouraging people, including myself, to get our act together, get out there, generate more ideas [and] market our ideas better," said John D. Podesta, chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, who is heading the think tank effort.
In an interview yesterday, Sen. Clinton said, "It would be a tremendous indictment of us" if Democrats do not create new groups to "make sure the point of view we think is needed can be heard."
New York's junior senator also is commanding greater influence over the party's base of trial lawyers, environmentalists, union workers and abortion rights activists through her new leadership assignment: chairman of the Democratic Steering Committee, a Senate organization that helps promote the party's agenda. Leading senators tapped Clinton for the job of revving up party activists and enlisting their help in attacking President Bush and congressional Republicans. She brought civil rights leaders to Washington last week to discuss a broader campaign against Bush judicial nominee Miguel Estrada.
"I am trying to broaden the base of people we have reached out to in the past," Clinton said.
To the chagrin of some Senate Democrats, she is assuming a bigger role in crafting the party's agenda and message for the next election. Most recently, she has been vocal and visible in escalating the fight with Bush over funding for firefighters and other first-responders to emergencies and crime. At the same time, she has tried to cultivate a centrist image for herself, much as her husband did by working the Democratic Leadership Council in the 1990s.
"I consider myself a New Democrat," the senator said. "I am very proud of the political identity developed by Democrats during the Clinton administration."
She has reached out to conservative Republicans, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) on foster care legislation, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles (R-Okla.) on unemployment insurance.
Clinton backs Bush's goal of deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, an unpopular view among her party's antiwar base, though she's critical of the president's "rhetoric and tactics" in dealing with the international community. She was recently awarded a seat on the Armed Services Committee, which provides her an opportunity to build a foreign policy résumé in the years ahead.
Clinton's new roles are providing her the ideal forum to put her imprint on Democratic policies, cement her relationship with key party activists and lay the groundwork for what many believe will be a presidential run in 2008, several senators and party strategists said.
"She spent the first two years in a learning process, [learning] not only the rules of the Senate but the traditions of how things should be handled here," said Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). "She was very careful and more restricted. Now she's moving into a second stage, being more out front, more visible and more available to articulate issues."
Some Democrats privately worry that Clinton is moving too quickly. "There are some people inside the caucus grumbling, suggesting she wants to bring more of a war-room mentality to the Senate than some senators are comfortable with," said a top Senate Democratic aide. "Others think this also has to be viewed with her future presidential runs and national ambitions in mind."
It is unusual for a freshman to accumulate so much power so precipitously in an institution ruled by tradition and seniority. Most senators wait many years to win a leadership post, and still more years to build a national following. But Clinton is anything but a typical senator. Considered among the most influential first ladies of all time, she won a Senate seat by moving to New York and spending $40 million convincing New Yorkers she was one of them. She prevailed by 12 percentage points, and recent polls show that 55 percent or more of New Yorkers are satisfied with the job she's doing.
By spending most of her first two years in office quietly tending to parochial concerns, working assiduously on policy and showing deference and charm to fellow senators, Clinton appears to have won over most of her colleagues. She got rave reviews for digging deep into the details of legislation and learning the Senate's esoteric rules. She was one of six Democrats awarded a Golden Gavel for presiding over the Senate for more than 100 hours in 2002.
Yet colleagues said it was only a matter of time before she seized more power. "It took a while for some people to really understand her brilliance," said Minority Whip Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). "We had to find a place for her-she is that good."
Many Democrats interviewed for this article predicted Clinton will run for president in 2008, if Bush wins reelection. "I think she's very well positioned to be a candidate next time around," said Breaux.
Some Democrats want Clinton to run now, though many strategists believe she should give voters another four years to forget, or at least forgive, the scandals that dogged her husband's eight-year presidency. She has pledged to complete her six-year Senate term, which ends in 2006.
Recent polls suggest Clinton would enter the 2004 Democratic primary as the clear frontrunner. A national poll conducted by Connecticut's Quinnipiac University in February found 42 percent of Democrats favored her in the primary. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) was a distant second at 15 percent.
Still, that same poll showed Bush beating her easily, underscoring how divisive the Clinton name remains. "She's intensely liked and she's intensely disliked," said Breaux. "Both sides think they are helped by Hillary. There are not many people you can say that about."
Clinton said she will not run in 2004 and "has no plans to" in 2008. But several Democrats said Clinton's White House ambitions are growing increasingly apparent.
Harold Ickes, one of her closest advisers, is assembling a group to raise money to spend on behalf of the Democratic presidential nominee after the 2004 summer convention, according to party officials. Bill and Hillary Clinton are expected to be among the biggest fundraisers.
Sen. Clinton has taken a bigger interest in a Democratic think tank-envisioned as a liberal version of the conservative Heritage Foundation-being assembled by Podesta and other party strategists. Podesta met recently with Daschle and others to update them on the think tank, which will likely be unveiled this spring, and to discuss related political projects, according to people at the meeting. Clinton has advised Podesta on the project and contacted donors about helping finance it, two strategists close to her said.
"She's extremely supportive of the [groups] that Podesta and others are working on," said Patty Solis Doyle, who runs Clinton's congressional fundraising operation. The new think tank might serve as the central nervous system of other groups Democrats are creating, party officials said, which would put Clinton at the heart of the party's new political operation.
During her first two years in office, Clinton gave Democratic candidates more than $1.4 million, tops among party leaders. She will host a fundraiser at her home in New York for Senate Democrats later this month.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company