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Washington Prowler

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It's doubtful that Hillary's pollster, Mark Penn, has thrown Pirro's name out in surveys. Her campaign has to take Pirro's candidacy far more seriously than that of any other GOP candidate now in the race, and Pirro certainly thins the field of any lightweight possibilities. While it is doubtful that Hillary would lose in a head to head race with Pirro, her fellow Westchesterite is smart and tough enough to take her head on and make it a competitive Senate race.

What Hillary has to consider now is whether it is worth it to win a Senate seat by five percentage points and break a promise to voters about serving a full term if re-elected, or whether it will be better simply to be honest with the voters, and choose not to seek re-election and instead begin an early campaign for the presidential nomination many Democrats expect her to seek.

As for the issue of her "promise" to voters, Clinton's Senate campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, was quick to point out last week that his boss has repeatedly stated her commitment is to the people of New York, and Clinton's Senate campaign regularly pushes back on the notion that the 2006 re-election campaign is nothing more than a dry run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination fight.

But Clinton is concerned enough about the appearance that she may abandon New Yorkers that pollster Mark Penn has been tracking the issue for the campaign. "It isn't registering as strongly for us as it is for outside pollsters, and we're getting pretty deep into the survey pool for undecided voters," says a campaign source. "We don't think any right-minded Democrat from New York wouldn't love to see Senator Clinton run for higher office, whether she is a sitting Senator or a private citizen."

If anyone understands the relationship a Clinton has with a voter or potential voter, it's Penn. He served as President Bill Clinton's pollster during the 1996 re-election campaign, and is expected to serve in a similar capacity should Hillary decide to run for president. According to sources inside the Clinton camp in New York, while hubby Bill is not taking a visibly active role in his wife's re-election campaign, or in her staff's planning regarding the Democratic presidential nomination, he does get Penn's polling data and is in touch with him to discuss strategy.

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