"I am going to serve my six-year term as senator. I owe it to the people of New York," the first lady said Wednesday during a town meeting broadcast by CNN.

Clinton also addressed the Elian Gonzalez case, again defending the government's armed removal of 6-year-old boy from his Miami relatives. She said it was "regrettable, but I understand the necessity for it."

She added that she hoped boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, could be persuaded to remain in the United States with his son.

"I hope that this taste of freedom and the opportunity to be with his son and to have this time perhaps would lead to that," Clinton said.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Clinton's rival in the Senate race, was in Manhattan on Wednesday and did not attend the town meeting.

Clinton also touched on abortion rights, which she supports, but said she could back legislation that would outlaw so-called partial-birth abortions except in cases where a woman's health was at stake. President Clinton has vetoed the partial birth bans twice in the past, each time saying he would sign a bill if it provided exemptions for both the life and health of the mother.

The first lady's comments came at the end of a long day on the campaign trail in which she went from cow country to a college campus, calling for tax changes to help keep family farms in the family.

Also Wednesday, Clinton said she had accepted invitations for two televised debates in the fall. Juleanna Glover Weiss, a spokeswoman for Giuliani's campaign, said the mayor had earlier accepted one of those debates and was in discussions concerning the other.

The first lady did not commit to a proposed debate Saturday in Buffalo. Both Clinton and Giuliani have been invited by New York's Independence Party to the forum. Giuliani has accepted while Clinton said Wednesday she was still "working it out."