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Prosecutor Pirro to challenge Clinton for NY Senate

Posted on: Monday, 8 August 2005, 17:56 CDT

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jeanine Pirro, a high-profile district attorney from the New York City suburbs, said on Monday she would seek the Republican nomination to run against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate next year.

Pirro has a reputation for combating domestic violence and prosecuting Internet pedophiles in Westchester County, and has long been considered a possible Republican Senate candidate.

In a state where 61 percent of voters disapprove of President Bush's handling of his job, according to the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Pirro could be attractive to voters because she is relatively liberal.

"I am a moderate and a compromiser," Pirro said in a statement, describing herself as Republican red on fiscal policy, taxes, foreign policy and fighting terrorism, but with "broad blue stripes" on social issues.

Pirro, 54, has served three times as District Attorney in Westchester County. Married with two children, she was listed by People Magazine in 1997 as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

"I am running against Hillary Clinton because New York state deserves a senator who will give her all to the people of New York for a full term, who will not miss votes to campaign in (presidential) primaries," Pirro said in a statement.

Clinton, one of New York's two Democratic senators, is widely seen as a presidential contender in 2008, despite her frequent assurances that she is focused on the Senate re-election campaign.

A Quinnipiac poll last week gave Clinton a 63 percent job approval rating. In a poll of various potential candidates, the former first lady led Pirro by 63 percent to 29 percent.

The New York Times said in June some Republicans were concerned that Pirro could lose crucial votes from conservatives because of her support for abortion rights and gay rights, as well as her husband's conviction on tax evasion charges.

Another Republican contender for the Senate is attorney Edward Cox, a son-in-law of late President Richard Nixon.

In People, Pirro said her mother had taught her the importance of looking good in politics.

"A woman needs to be put together more than a man," she said. "If she isn't, she looks like she's not up for the job. There's a different standard. Those are the rules, and I have to live by them."

Source: REUTERS

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