July 8, 1999
Web posted at: 5:46 p.m. EDT (2146 GMT)

COOPERSTOWN, New York (AllPolitics, July 8) -- Concentrating on health care issues during the second day of her barnstorming tour of upstate New York on Thursday, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said she learned a lesson from her role in the administration's failed health care plan.

"You may recall that I have had some thoughts about health care," the first lady joked with a panel of health care professionals at the Bassett Healthcare Hospital in Cooperstown.

"Certainly coming out of that experience, I remain committed to the idea of providing quality, affordable health care for Americans, but I now come from the school of smaller steps. In the last several years we've seen some progress towards opening up access. But we've also seen some problems develop that we have to look at," she said.

Hillary Rodham Clinton attended Thursday a health care discussion in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The first lady's high-profile work developing the 1994 sweeping health care reform proposals has been seen as potentially harmful if she decides to run, as expected, for the U.S. Senate.

Thursday marked the second day of her first full-scale political trip into New York -- one her aides are dubbing a "listening tour." She will wrap up the trip Friday in Albany.

Thursday was also a day in which Mrs. Clinton hinted at future plans. She said she would ask her husband, President Bill Clinton, to campaign for her if she went ahead with a Senate race. Mrs. Clinton also pledged to serve out a full term -- a veiled jab at her potential GOP opponent, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who sometimes is mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2004.

"He knows a lot about New York," Mrs. Clinton said of her husband. "He's done very well in New York and I would look forward to his campaigning for me if I decide to run ... (and) if I can get on his schedule."

She arrived Wednesday in Cooperstown, first stopping at the Baseball Hall of Fame. There, she autographed baseballs handed to her, took pictures with New Yorkers and generally worked the crowd.

"She seems to be enjoying it," state Democratic Chairwoman Judith Hope said of the visit. "I think her political instincts are extremely fine. She seems to know when to give you a hug or kneel down and talk to a baby."

Friend Mandy Grunwald, a media consultant who worked on President Clinton's campaigns and now is advising Mrs. Clinton, said, "You can talk about it and plan it, but until you actually get out and do it, you never are quite sure."

The tour began earlier in Wednesday with a meeting with Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan -- the retiring senior New York senator whose seat Mrs. Clinton is considering a run for -- at the senator's farm in Oneonta with a trip to Cooperstown.

Mrs. Clinton has not officially announced that she is a candidate for the U.S. Senate. No wife of a sitting president has ever sought elective office.

"I hope she will go all the way. I mean to go all the way with her. I think she's going to win, I think it's going to be wonderful for New York, and we'll be proud of our senator and the nation will notice," Moynihan said Wednesday.

CNN's Bruce Morton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thursday, July 8, 1999

• Hillary Clinton 'listens' to New York health care concerns
• U.S. House Republicans unveil college savings plan
• Lott among those now holding up Holbrooke
• Judge halves community service sentence for Whitewater figure
• Future of Veterans Affairs secretary is confused
• Clinton calls for investment in 'human capital' as poverty tour ends
• y it matters: Your rights as patient up for debate in Washington
• Attorney general gets 'recognized' in California
• Republicans push against early primaries
• Mrs. Clinton: Jerusalem is Israel's 'eternal, indivisible' capital
• Babbitt appears before grand jury
• FEC says 'motor voter' increased rolls by 7 million
• Richardson agrees to semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency
• McIntosh makes gubernatorial bid official
• Budget surpluses, projections and guesswork
• New Treasury chief: 'Right course has been set'
• Former NIH director Healy named Red Cross head

• For Bush, a rare low-dollar breakfast
• McCain calls for Internet tax ban
• Verney won't seek re-election as Reform Party chairman

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