First Lady Leaves Little Doubt About Running

As the band at Leonards of Great Neck played John Denvers "Down a Country Road" for the 200-plus guests at Tuesday nights fundraiser for Congressman Gary Ackerman, the keynote speaker, First Lady Hillary Clinton, spoke of her plans to go down New York roads on what she hoped would be her way to the U.S. Senate. "I am really looking forward to next year," Clinton told the assembly, who had paid $75 each to munch on carrot sticks and cheese squares and to hear Ackerman and Clinton. "I want to be able to have a vote and a voice [in Congress] for the issues that matter."
Clinton, who has all but actually announced her candidacy, said she wanted to work for better education and improved health care for New Yorkers, and to "make sure that the environment of New York State, which is among the most beautiful in the country and world, is here for the future."
She said her main goal was to "bring people to the table thats how democracy works.
In a not-so-subtle reference to her likely rival for the senate seat, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has cracked down on the homeless sleeping in the streets, Clinton said, "It is not, and it should not be, a crime to be homeless. It is a problem to be solved." That was met with loud applause from the assembly.
She added that mentally ill people "not just in New York City, but also in Long Island and upstate New York need treatment. There are better solutions than putting them on the street or in a revolving-door jail."
Taking care of desperate or ill people "is not only the right thing to do, but the economically smart thing to do," Clinton added.
In introducing Clinton, Ackerman praised her as a "real champion of the people," and someone who has "come into a state where she was not born, and adopted it as her home. And the people have adopted her."
Clinton wasnt short on praise for Ackerman, either, whom she complimented for his work against terrorism and on behalf of Ethiopian Jews.
Clinton urged the supportive crowd that if anyone asked them where they were Tuesday night, they should say, "Oh, I was at a gathering with the congressman and the next senator of New York State."
If the applause were any indication, many intended to say just that.