Clinton-Bush clash beneficial for both?

BY GLENN THRUSH AND CRAIG GORDON | NEWSDAY WASHINGTON BUREAU

February 10, 2006

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's winter offensive against President George W. Bush has provoked the expected GOP counterattack - but the conflict just might pay off handsomely for both politicians.

The two most polarizing figures in American politics are locked in a co-dependency of sorts. Their recent skirmish carries distinct advantages for both, according to allies and analysts.

Taking on Bush validates New York's junior senator as a kind of shadow president and provides fodder for her fundraising operation. Battling Clinton allows Bush to rally his conservative troops against their arch-enemy and, similarly, shake the shekels from the faithful.

Consider these ying-and-yang statements yesterday from both camps:

"Having Senator Clinton be the face of the Democratic Party may not be an altogether bad thing in the eyes of many Republicans," said a source close to the Bush team, adding Clinton has always been been a reliable GOP fundraising tool.

"Having the White House come after us definitely has its benefits," said a source close to the Clinton team, adding that Bush has always been been a reliable fundraising tool.

As if to prove that point, Clinton campaign guru Ann Lewis sent a mass e-mail to donors and supporters late yesterday. It included a New York Post clipping detailing a Wednesday White House confab between Clinton's main GOP re-election rival, former Yonkers mayor John Spencer, and an aide to Bush political adviser Karl Rove.

The missive ended with a discreet "Contributions to Friends of Hillary are not deductible for federal income tax purposes."

A person familiar with the White House meeting said Rove aide Sara Taylor met with Spencer for an hour and suggested that anything "that could defeat Hillary was good" for Bush.

For the last month, Clinton has targeted Bush, saying Congress was run like a "plantation" and the Bush White House would go down as one of the worst in history.

Since then, she's lambasted Bush on Iran, health care and the new prescription drug plan, the deficit and the administration's Hurricane Katrina response. On Wednesday, Clinton accused Bush and Rove of exploiting the terrorism "fear card" for political gain and ridiculed the president for failing to capture "the tallest man in Afghanistan."

Laura Bush called Clinton's plantation remark "ridiculous," while Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman suggested she was too angry to ever be elected president. The president has stayed above the fray, saying only that Clinton could be a "formidable" candidate in 2008.