He vs. she, part 1

Even new resident Monica can't handle this one, as Rudy and Hillary prepare to take their fearsome domestic quarrel to upstate New York.

By Jake Tapper

Sep 24, 1999 | One of the newest residents of Greenwich Village, Monica Lewinsky, has already decided who she'll vote for in next year's senatorial race:

No one.

"I'm not voting," she said. "I'm a little sick of politics right now."

Lewinsky may have moved to the wrong place if she wants to avoid politics, however, as New Yorkers prepare for what promises to be the highest profile Senate race in American history: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton against New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

"The race is not this year, although you'd think it was," says former New York Mayor Ed Koch. "It'll be the longest Senate race in the history of America. I hope people don't get bored."

Fat chance. Nauseous, maybe -- but the race promises to be anything but boring.

Clinton and Giuliani are both larger-than-life figures whose first names are household words. Hillary! Rudy! Each claims grandiose achievements and a monopoly on righteousness; each is always right, their opponents always wrong.

Both are wildly adored and viciously despised.

Both are historical figures. High schools will be named after them someday.

A Fiorello H. LaGuardia and Eleanor Roosevelt for the millennium -- but hungrier, angrier.

The campaign (assuming it happens -- neither Rudy nor Hillary has officially declared candidacy yet) is going to be insane. For the media, the only bigger matchup would be Madonna vs. Howard Stern. And maybe not even that.

If the New York Post didn't already exist, someone would have to invent it, right now, just for this race.

On the political front, it's already been brutally Darwinian. A year ahead of time, two well-meaning, successful members of Congress -- Rep. Nita Lowey, a motherly Westchester County Democrat, and Rick Lazio, a young buck Long Island Republican -- have been rudely elbowed out of the way to make room for the stars. Plenty of Hillary Lovers, Hillary Haters, Rudy Lovers and Rudy Haters are already pouring millions of dollars into the appropriate campaign buckets.

Rudy's May fund-raiser at Midtown's Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, which featured Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as the honorary chairman, is said to have netted $2.1 million, probably the biggest in state history for an unannounced candidate.

Each campaign is shooting to raise upwards of $20 million, which could make this not just the longest, but the most expensive Senate race in history -- topping the 1994 California match between Dianne Feinstein and Michael Huffington.

If it were just Hillary running, or just Rudy, the fanfare wouldn't amount to a fraction of this.

Indeed, it's the combination, the anticipated ugliness, the At-last! pairing of nemeses for each of these intimidating forces of nature.

It's gonna be great.

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