Nov 6, 2008 8:29 pm US/Pacific
Hillary Gushes About Obama's Chief Of Staff Pick
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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Then-candidate Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D.-N.Y., kiss before boarding Obama's campaign plane at Reagan National Airport on June 27, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel gives the thumbs-up during the Democratic National Convention 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., on Aug. 26, 2008.
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton, in her first public appearance since one-time rival Barack
Obama was elected president, praised his choice for White House chief
of staff, a former top aide to Bill Clinton.
"President-elect Obama made an excellent choice," she said of Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel.
She said Emanuel "understands both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue."
"He
gets things done," she said at a news conference Thursday night before
she and former President Clinton were honored at a gala at the newly
refurbished Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. "Rahm is determined
and effective."
She also called on Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens,
the Senate's longest-serving Republican, to resign after he was
convicted of corruption charges.
The event at which the
Clintons spoke kicked off the opening weekend of the Intrepid after a
nearly two-year restoration. Next week, President Bush will deliver a
Veterans Day address on the famed World War II aircraft carrier.
Clinton,
D-N.Y., said she talked with Obama after his historic victory, which
made the Illinois senator the first African-American elected to the
White House, and promised to work with him as he faces challenging
times taking office.
"I want to be a good partner with him in
the Senate," said Clinton, his former rival for their party's
presidential nomination. "The Senate is going to be the place that
determines whether his agenda is successful. We are going to work
together. We are going to work across the aisle."
Clinton said
that Obama has to move quickly on national security and the economy.
She said he was wise to begin preparing for his transition into the
White House.
"I give him credit for being ahead of the curve," she said. "I think he'll put together a good team."
Asked if she would join an Obama administration, Clinton said: "I want to be the best senator I can be from New York."
Stevens,
who has secured billions of dollars in federal funds for his state, was
clinging to a narrow lead in a re-election bid after being found guilty
of lying on Senate records to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in
home renovations and gifts he received from a millionaire businessman.
He is appealing and told voters he's not a convicted felon, at least
not until the appeal process is over.
But Stevens, Clinton said, has to go.
"I think that he should step down, and I think that we may actually win that seat still," she said.
An
exit poll and incomplete ballot results had the 40-year incumbent with
a very slight lead -- 3,363 votes -- over Democratic rival Mark Begich,
the mayor of Anchorage. More than 60,000 absentee and questioned
ballots remained to be counted Thursday, so the outcome may be days in
coming.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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