LBANY, N.Y. - Seeking to quiet speculation that Hillary Rodham Clinton may be having second thoughts about running for the US Senate, her spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said yesterday that ''this campaign is moving full steam ahead.'' Wolfson said: ''Hillary Clinton has made a commitment to the people of New York, and when she makes a commitment, she keeps it.'' So far, Clinton has not formally announced her candidacy. A top supporter of Clinton's expected Senate bid, state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, said she must quickly announce her candidacy, establish residency in New York, and hire a full-time campaign manager to end speculation that she may not run. (AP)
A poll finds McCain gathering steam
CONCORD, N.H. - Vice President Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley are in a dead heat in New Hampshire, but either one would lose to Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, according to a poll published yesterday. According to a Quinnipiac College survey from Nov. 10 to 15 of 367 likely Democratic voters in the state, which holds the nation's first primary next year, Gore topped Bradley by 44 to 41 percent; well within the margin of error of 5.1 percentage points. That was an improvement for Gore, who in the last Quinnipiac survey, on Oct. 26, trailed Bradley by 47 to 39 percent. But in a larger poll of 1,098 registered New Hampshire voters, taken in the same period, McCain would beat them both. McCain would beat Gore by 53 to 34 percent and Bradley by 43 to 36 percent, according to the survey. Governor George W. Bush of Texas would beat Gore by 46 percent to 41 percent, while Bradley would beat Bush by 46 percent to 41 percent. The larger poll had a margin of error of three percentage points. (Reuters)
Newest legislator pressed into service
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Hours after defeating a Republican businessman, Elia Pirozzi, to replace the late Representative George E. Brown Jr., Joe Baca, a Democrat, was on his way to Washington to cast a vote in the federal budget battle. Baca said he was making the trip at the request of the Democratic minority leader, Dick Gephardt. The California secretary of state, Bill Jones, certified the victory shortly after midnight, making Baca eligible to be sworn in on the floor of the House almost immediately. With all 202 precincts reporting, Baca had 22,766 votes, or 51.7 percent, and Pirozzi had 19,194 votes, or 43.6 percent. (AP)
Energy firms' staff said to fund Bush
CONCORD, N.H. - Governor George W. Bush of Texas has received 79 percent of the money donated to presidential candidates by employees of oil, electric power, and automobile interests in the first nine months of the year, according to a report released yesterday by two citizens' groups. Bush received $521,714 of the $658,389 donated by workers of companies belonging to three trade organizations: the American Petroleum Institute; the Edison Electric Institute, which represents utilities and plant owners; and the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, said the report by the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance and the Iowa Citizen Action Network Foundation, which supports changing campaign laws. The groups attributed support for Bush to his lead in polls and what they said was a subpar environmental record. (AP)
