Hillary on the Hustings

Hillary on the Hustings
Outside Manhattan, the first lady is far from a shoo-in.
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT
Saturday, September 9, 2000 12:01 a.m. EDT

SYRACUSE, N.Y.--For Hillary Clinton, getting attention is a cinch. Especially when she parachutes into down-home upstate events as she runs for the Senate. And especially when she stumps with her husband, who happens to be the president. For the Secret Service escort and ensuing traffic jams alone, it's impossible to ignore Hillary on the hustings.

But does her celebrity translate into votes? So far, polls show the relatively unknown Republican candidate, Rep. Rick Lazio, running neck-and-neck with the world-famous Mrs. Clinton, in what is shaping up as the nation's hottest--and weirdest--Senate race.

For a closer look, come along to the New York State Fair, where the Clintons dropped in for some quick campaigning last weekend, outdrawing even the prize cows and the nearest beer booth. While Bill and Hillary worked the crowd, fathers hoisted their kids onto their shoulders for a better view. Mothers muscled their strollers into the throng.

"It's the president! See his head!" yelled one young man.

"I see his hair!" a young woman screamed back.

The Clintons eventually disappeared into the Empire Room, whence they rushed on to a quick fund-raiser and flew back to Washington that same evening.

Their visit to the fair played later, on the local TV evening news, as a smash welcome for the first couple, with "a crowd that braved the sweltering heat" to cheer them on, and Mrs. Clinton telling the cameras, "Having a great time--always do. Love coming up here."

Well, a big crowd did indeed gather to gaze at the president and "his wife," as one parking attendant at the fair referred to the senatorial candidate. But two hours later a tightly packed throng pressed into a nearby amphitheater to watch another fascinating spectacle--a veterinary team neutering a dog.

This is upstate New York, full of small towns and traditionally Republican turf. Folks here like to fly the American flag, and they refer to New York City as "downstate," sometimes in tones that imply it really ought to belong to another country. Folks up here respect the presidency, but they don't seem to have a lot of respect left for Bill Clinton. "Where's Monica?" calls out one spectator, as Mr. Clinton walks by.

"Didja get her phone number, Bill?" calls another, as Mr. Clinton shakes a blond woman's hand.

And if you start asking folks here how they'll vote, it turns out a lot of them--even while cheering the presidency--don't think much of Hillary either. If anything, her senate campaign seems to be crystallizing local views about Clinton-style politics. "I want a New Yorker representing New York," says 45-year-old Matt McDowell, a Syracuse real-estate agent working the beer booth. "Hillary's got presidential aspirations. She's not running for senator just because she loves New York, she's running for something else."

"She's not going to get my vote," says 40-year-old George German, a local deer hunter who fears Hillary would take away his gun. Whatever Mrs. Clinton may think, Mr. German adds, "We're not hillbillies."

"Hillary is really the epitome of big government," says Carol Hile, a 50-year-old local health-care worker who, even as she strains forward to see the first couple, dismisses the Hillary campaign as "a dog-and-pony show."

"She's riding on the government's coattails," says Carla Montrallo, a 46-year-old truck driver.

"And our tax dollars helped her get there," adds a man standing nearby.

"It's a matter of not wanting to be used," says a local health-care worker. "The office of the presidency has been diminished."

"I just don't like her," sums up a young man in a ballcap and blue T-shirt.

Not that everyone agrees. "Awesome. She's pretty. Her hairstyle is a lot better than what you see on TV," says 48-year-old Barbara Dunn, a used-car saleswoman from nearby Lyndonville, N.Y.

"It's an issues thing," says 20-year-old Elizabeth Cunningham, a Binghamton college student who likes the Democrats because "I'm lesbian, and they have programs that work better for me."

And then there's the teacher's aide who hasn't yet made up her mind. Her brother runs a restaurant in Fulton where Hillary bought a takeout sandwich during a campaign swing a while back, and on that basis the family is "still working" on which way to vote.

None of this guarantees that Hillary Clinton will lose to Rick Lazio. A Zogby International poll, released Aug. 25, shows a 47% to 45% lead for Mrs. Clinton. But the polarization is spectacular. In New York City, she leads with 70%, compared with Mr. Lazio's 24%. Upstate he leads with 51% to her 40%, and in the suburbs it's Rick 55%, Hillary 37%.

It comes down right now to a dead heat, in which the decisive arena will likely be upstate New York. What gives Mr. Lazio his upstate edge so far is very simply that he is not Mrs. Clinton. To rake in enough votes up here to carry the day, Hillary faces the interesting problem that her biggest obstacle may be the very celebrity that got her a place in the New York Senate race to begin with.

Ms. Rosett is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board. Her column appears Thursdays in The Wall Street Journal Europe as "Letter From America" and Saturdays on OpinionJournal.com.