Dems pick Hil for Senate: But sure sounds like she's got her eyes on a bigger prize in acceptance speech
BY HELEN KENNEDY - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
New York Daily News
BUFFALO - Sen. Hillary Clinton triumphantly accepted the unanimous renomination of her party yesterday with a video and speech that did absolutely nothing to slow speculation about a 2008 presidential bid.
If you didn't pay very close attention, you'd have thought she was already running for President - against George W. Bush.
She didn't even acknowledge having any Senate race opponents, but did a fair amount of Bush bashing and gleefully opened her campaign video with a shot of the President predicting she would lose in 2000.
"We need new leadership," she declared. "We're going to see that this November. We're going to start electing Democrats. America's going in that direction. If we stand together as Democrats, with hard work we will take our country back."
In what often sounded like an Iowa stump speech, Clinton trashed the Bush administration on everything from the environment to the deficit to foreign affairs to energy policy to the gutting of FEMA.
"It's an environment where it's more important to say 'mission accomplished' than actually accomplish the mission," she said.
Debuting a new campaign slogan, she repeatedly urged supporters to "stand with me" against the GOP.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, kept a low profile and didn't address the state party convention, but joined her onstage in a whirl of balloons, confetti and rapturous cheers to the strains of "[We Gotta Get] Right Back Where We Started From."
A potentially embarrassing focus on her vote to go to war in Iraq was averted by a deal with anti-war activist Jonathan Tasini, who gave up his threat to slip his nomination onto the floor in exchange for a resolution calling for a troop pullout from Iraq. It passed on a voice vote.
Tasini said he intends to ride that anti-war sentiment onto the primary ballot by gathering the required 15,000 signatures.
After the convention, Clinton did tackle the war in Iraq, calling on Bush to soon tell Iraqi leaders they have to take responsibility for their nation's security so U.S. troops can come home.
In a statewide conference call to House Parties for Hillary Clinton last night, Clinton said the administration must enlist the support of neighboring countries to ensure "a strong and stable" Iraq.
