Boxer to keep claws out during second Bush term

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To her detractors, Barbara Boxer, the diminutive Democratic senator from California, is an unladylike, publicity-seeking pit bull.

"A preening boob" is one of the nicer descriptions that one anti-Boxer blogger recently posted.

A senator who challenged election results in Ohio that clinched victory for President Bush and grilled Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings, Mrs. Boxer intends to continue her role as the hellcat from the Left Coast.

Or in her words, "To be the best senator I can be, to stand up for the American people." (For the record, Mrs. Boxer stands at 5 feet even and often uses a box to boost her stature during her floor speeches.)

To her supporters, her behavior is more brazen than bizarre.

"It's just Barbara being Barbara," one Democratic observer says. "I admire her. I think she has a lot of guts."

The senator says the recent publicity stemming from her full-boil partisan positions has been more than welcome and raised her national profile -- with hopes of assuming Democratic stalwart Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's mantle as party pooh-bah.

"My own reaction was that I was really surprised by how much notice [the confirmation hearings] got," she says in a telephone interview. "I've been doing this forever. It got so much attention."

And with the annual Gridiron Dinner -- a night of stinging satire where the Washington press corps pokes a little fun at Congress and the White House -- just weeks away, writers are honing their Boxer jokes.

The senator defends her tough comments and personal criticisms of Miss Rice, saying, "I showed the utmost respect for her by holding her accountable. I think it was a very respectful thing to do."