Jeanine Pirro, a high-profile prosecutor in the New York Citysuburbs, said Monday she will seek the Republican nomination tochallenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton next year.
Clinton, leaving a New York City event, ignored reporters'questions about Pirro's announcement.
Pirro said the former first lady is more interested in runningfor president than being senator -- speculation that Clinton hassought to quash.
"When Mrs. Clinton first came to us and said she wanted to be aNew Yorker, she asked New York to put out a welcome mat, and wedid," the Westchester County district attorney said.
"But now she wants us to re-elect her even though she won'tpromise to serve out her term and wants to use us as a springboardto the presidency. She's asking us to become her doormat."
National polls have shown Clinton is the leading contender forthe 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, though the former firstlady has said she is focused on her Senate re-election bid and isnot thinking about a run for the White House.
Those Pirro might face in the GOP primary for the Senatenomination include Edward Cox, a Manhattan lawyer who is a son-in-law of President Richard M. Nixon.
Pirro, 54, said she formally would announce her candidacyWednesday.
She said May 23 she would not seek a fourth term as districtattorney but would run for statewide office next year. At that time,she would not say whether that would be U.S. Senate, governor orstate attorney general.
Pirro has won praise for her Internet stings of would-be childmolesters, her work with battered women and her battle againstunderage drinking. She often is seen on national television as acommentator on high-profile crimes.
Pirro brushed aside questions about her husband, lawyer-lobbyistAlbert Pirro, who has been an issue in most of her campaigns. He wasin federal prison for tax fraud when she was re-elected districtattorney in 2001. In 1986, he refused to release information abouthis law practice, and she had to withdraw as the GOP candidate forlieutenant governor.
A statewide poll issued last week by the Quinnipiac UniversityPolling Institute showed Clinton leading Pirro by 63 percent to 29percent, but Pirro predicted Monday that the gap would narrow.
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