Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

June 30, 1999, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 23; Column 5; Editorial Desk

LENGTH: 695 words

Senator vs. Senator

BYLINE: By MAUREEN DOWD

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:

One Senate. Two Clintons.

It is a concept so novel, so alarming, attention must be paid.

Jeffrey Toobin caused a kerfuffle when he wrote in The New Yorker this week

that Bill Clinton was interested in running for the Senate from Arkansas in

2002. If Mr. Clinton won in his home state and Mrs. Clinton won in somebody

else's home state, they would make history as the first connubial Senate team.

When the President called the story "crazy," I knew it could be true.

As Hal Bruno, formerly of ABC, said of the Clinton crowd: "You're dealing

with very unpredictable and, at times, unstable people."

With Larry King, Mr. Toobin evoked the image of a cool Tracy-Hepburn pair

working the cloakroom: "I think the opportunity for them to serve in the Senate

together, doing public service, which is what they both seem to want to do,

would be a tremendous opportunity for them."

A little more public service from the Clintons and we will all expire.

If anyone thinks Bill Clinton would be motivated to run for the Senate by the

chance to work closely with his wife on more allegedly urgent policy wonkery, I

have a bridge to the future I'd like to sell him.

The man can't function unless he is causing dysfunction. He's already driven

Washington completely bananas. He can't help it. This is what he does. And he

does what he wants. The more Hillary and Al try to get away from Bill, the more

he'll croon and wiggle his hips and make pouty lips until he gets back the

spotlight.

Elvis will never leave the building.

Why should President Clinton go back to Little Rock to try to make world

peace, like Jimmy Carter, or go off to Hollywood to fetch Jeffrey Katzenberg's

coffee, when he could stay here and torment us -- not to mention his wife --

some more? Why have a legacy when you can have "Groundhog Day"? Why have an

amicable divorce when you can have "War of the Roses"?

Just picture this scary 2003 scenario: a Bush in the White House, two Doles

and a Gore lobbying on K Street, and two Clintons battling each other on the

floor of the Senate.

If both Clintons did become Senators, Hillary would have seniority. You've

gotta love that.

So if she catches him with another buxom intern in a Capitol hideaway, used

through the ages by lawmakers on the make, she could really mess with him. No

more having to cast that adoring glare when he talks.

Now she can refuse to yield her remaining time to the gentleman from

Arkansas. She can filibuster him, he can filibuster her, and they can bring a

couple branches of government to a screeching halt again.

With her seniority and her big state, she'll be on Finance and Foreign

Relations, and she could make sure he was on a loser panel like the

Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. Obviously, he is not suited for

the Select Committee on Ethics or Veterans' Affairs and would cringe from the

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

It will be wonderful to watch Hillary exact parliamentary revenge from her

perch on the Appropriations Committee. Whenever her hubby tries to steer money

to Arkadelphia, she can reroute it to Elmira, if she can remember where it is.

He may wind up feeling lucky that he has no legacy for her to undo.

She will arrange a rapprochement between two cagey and ruthless New Yorkers,

Harold Ickes and Dick Morris, and bring them on as her top aides. With that

triangulation of revenge, she will always outmaneuver the Senator from Arkansas.

Of course, having experienced his wife's lash so often, Bill may be reluctant

to support her for Whip.

Senator Clinton and Senator Clinton will have to abide by the Congressional

rules of collegiality and civility in addressing one another. You can just hear

them now:

He: "May I ask the esteemed harridan from New York why she has transferred

funds from my Presidential Library to Project Cleanup in Schenectady?"

She: "Need I tell the distinguished rake from Arkansas that I no longer have

to feign interest in his tacky and Zabar-less state? And my lecherous friend

should not expect to see his face on a postage stamp any time in this century."

I suspect she will see no reason to revise and amend her remarks.