New York Post-April 9, 2000 FIRST LADY CAN'T SEEM TO DITCH CARPETBAG SHE CARRIES By GREGG BIRNBAUM It's Hillary's Problem and it just won't go away. Nine months into her Senate campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton still hasn't outrun the "carpetbagger" label. A recent poll showed New York voters remain as troubled by it as ever, reporters are still asking which baseball team the first lady is rooting for, and Clinton continues to bring up her out-of-state history to audiences without prompting. "It's an issue that's not going away, and that surprises me," said an upstate Democratic leader. While the first lady has been climbing in the polls recently, most of her gains have come from Mayor Giuliani's self-inflicted wounds, not from her efforts to improve her standing. Giuliani's advisers believe Clinton's carpetbagger status -- she never worked in New York and has only lived here since January -- remains her soft underbelly, ripe for attack later when they begin trying in earnest to tear down the first lady's popularity. "There is a sense among some voters that she's not ‘fitting in' in New York," said one Giuliani aide. A survey last month by Marist College showed 50 percent of those questioned said they are "concerned" about Clinton not being from New York, including 31 percent who call themselves "greatly" bothered by it. The figure is virtually unchanged from last July -- when campaigning started. Among key independent voters and those who have yet to make up their mind about a candidate, concern over Clinton's carpetbagging is even higher (up to 57 percent) than with other voters. "If it's independents and they are worried about it, she's got problems," said Jeffrey Stonecash, professor of political science at Syracuse University. Brooklyn-born Giuliani does his best to fan the issue, often mocking Clinton's upbringing in Illinois, life in Arkansas, and ties to Washington, D.C. He tossed some darts about Clinton and the Chicago Cubs last week during a campaign bus ride with Sen. John McCain on Long Island. Speaking recently to the Civil Service Employees Association in Syracuse, Clinton was blunt about it -- and she offered a new twist in an effort to turn the lingering resentment to her benefit. "I know there may be some people you see in church or down the supermarket aisle or back at work who are going to say, ‘Why did the CSEA endorse her? You know, she didn't grow up here. She's not from here. What does she know about us?'" Clinton told several hundred union members. Clinton finished by telling supporters they should let any doubters know she will be a "zealot" for New York, working even harder, like an adopted child or a religious convert does -- a description she hadn't used before. Clinton's allies and some experts believe her carpetbagger status will not be decisive in November. They said the first lady is smart to raise the issue herself, favorably comparing her open handling of it to the way John F. Kennedy dealt with being a Catholic when he was running for president in 1960. "I can't imagine people would choose a senator based on such a simplistic issue," said Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli (D-Nassau), the county Democratic chairman and Clinton backer. "By the end of the campaign, a lot of people may say, ‘Gee, it would be nice if she'd been born in Mineola, but we'll vote for her anyway.'" ### P.S. 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