‘Kerry will win,’ Mrs. Clinton tells editors conference

It was a scene fit for a president, or a presidential aspirant, anyway.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was greeted by a 30-piece, U.S. Marine Corps brass band playing Sousa marches, a formal presentation of colors and the national anthem upon entering the annual meeting of the American Society of Newspaper Editors yesterday.

The New York Democrat adamantly rejected any suggestions that she was interested in returning to the White House. Her support for likely Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry, however, was in full flower.

“Will Kerry win?” asked forum moderator Bernard Kalb.

“Kerry will win,” Mrs. Clinton said flatly.

“What do you base that on?” asked Mr. Kalb, a former television journalist.

“Hope,” she replied, to the merriment of the audience, adding quickly that she trusted the “abiding good sense of the American people” to elect Mr. Kerry.

Mr. Kalb reminded her that Al Gore had not called on former President Clinton to boost his campaign for president in the 2000 election. Had Mr. Kerry called upon Mr. Clinton?

Mrs. Clinton affirmed that her husband already had come to Mr. Kerry’s aid.

Mr. Clinton will help out, she said.

Much of Mrs. Clinton’s time before dozens of the nation’s top editors was spent in full Bush-bashing mode, fueled by Mr. Kalb’s many references to “Plan of Attack,” a new book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post. The book says the White House improperly funded the war in Iraq and had a secretive relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Mrs. Clinton painted the Bush administration as evasive with the press and with Congress.

“There are more questions than answers,” Mrs. Clinton said, saying Mr. Bush, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others spoke in “Delphic oracles.”

The Bush administration, she said, was “unwilling to recognize the usual norms of dealing with the democratic process.”

“It’s part of a larger canon of behavior I find disturbing. Accountability is being diluted by this administration. It gets away with ‘We’re not going to tell you. Goodbye. Go away.’ It’s unprecedented,” Mrs. Clinton said.

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