Hillary Clinton Sworn In As Senator

Wednesday, January 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Hillary Rodham Clinton took her own oath of office Wednesday, completing an unprecedented transformation from first lady to U.S. senator and ending a quarter-century of playing political cheerleader for her husband.

This time, he was the one watching from the sideline.

President Clinton and daughter Chelsea peered down from the packed Senate gallery as the first lady raised her right hand and took the oath on a Bible she had brought from the White House. Her mother, Dorothy Rodham, was there, too, along with 6-year-old nephew Tyler, the son of presidential brother Roger Clinton.

The president smiled proudly and clasped his daughter's hand. Afterward, when asked to describe his mood, he replied, ``Ecstatic.''

``It's a great day,'' he said, sporting a tiny campaign button on his lapel that read ``Hillary.''

The oath was administered by Vice President Al Gore, who serves as president of the Senate. Following tradition, Mrs. Clinton was escorted by New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer, also a Democrat, from her seat in the chamber's back row.

After she signed her name in the Senate register â€” which puts her on the government payroll â€” Clinton was greeted on the floor by 98-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., the Senate's senior member.

``Can I hug you?'' Thurmond asked loudly, enveloping a startled-looking Clinton in a bear hug and kissing her on the cheek. She received a pat on the back from Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, who often has clashed with the Clintons.

Later, following tradition, Clinton and her family attended a re-enactment of the swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber. The mock ceremony allows senators to pose alone and with their families for the photos that are not allowed in the Senate chamber.

As Chelsea held the Bible and Mrs. Clinton raised her right hand, flashbulbs bathed the room, which was packed with photographers and reporters.

The first lady used a Bible that had been given to her by the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church when she first came to Washington as first lady eight years ago.

Her husband's trip to Capitol Hill to see her sworn in prompted increased security, and she was moved to first for the re-enactment photo op, skipping ahead even of Lott.

Clinton, who made no public statements, was to end her first day as a senator with a pair of parties. The afternoon reception in the Dirksen Senate Office Building was paid for by her campaign. An evening event at Washington's Mayflower Hotel was sponsored by Walter Kaye, a New York City insurance executive.

No first lady had ever run for elected office before, and she had never lived or worked in New York. But with her steadfast support of her husband during the Lewinsky scandal sending her popularity ratings to their highest point, she pursued the Senate seat.

Clinton appeared with retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan on his farm in upstate New York in July 1999 â€” with a media crowd in tow â€” and began a summer-long ``listening tour'' of the state. She and the president later purchased a $1.7 million home in a suburb of New York City.

Her first Republican opponent, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, dropped out of the race in mid-May after being diagnosed with prostate cancer and acknowledging marital troubles.

Following a sometimes nasty campaign, she defeated her second opponent, Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio, performing surprisingly well in traditionally Republican areas upstate and drawing the third-highest vote total ever in a New York U.S. Senate race.

In the Senate, she will serve alongside members who helped kill the broad health care plan she helped put together in her husband's first term, tried to remove her husband from office and held critical hearings on the Clintons' ill-fated Whitewater land deal.

While she is trying to portray herself as just another freshman lawmaker, Clinton is easily the most famous new face in the chamber. And until Republican George W. Bush is sworn in as president Jan. 20 and her husband leaves office, she will be both the first lady and a senator.

After that, she will continue to have Secret Service protection, as do other former first ladies.

â€”â€”â€”

On the net: www.senate.gov/ 7/8 clinton