Hillary Clinton

WASHINGTON - Dorothy Howell Rodham, 92, mother of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton's mother-in-law, died Tuesday after an illness. The family said Mrs. Rodham died, surrounded by her family, at a Washington hospital. Hillary Clinton had canceled a planned trip to London and Istanbul to be at her mother's side. In a statement, the Clinton family hailed Mrs. Rodham as a woman who "overcame abandonment and hardship as a young girl to become the remarkable woman she was - a warm, generous and strong woman; an intellectual; a woman who told a great joke and always got the joke; an extraordinary friend and, most of all, a loving wife, mother and grandmother.

Challenging South American custom, Hillary Rodham Clinton told Argentina's leading women yesterday that they should push for reproductive rights as a means to equality. Her reference to abortion was fleeting, but its mere mention was exceptional in a country where 92 percent of the population is Catholic and most abortions are illegal. In a provocative speech on women's rights from the stage of South America's most heralded opera house, she called family planning a crucial ingredient needed to end discrimination and give women fair footing in society.

Responding to charges that her law practice has benefited directly from her husband's position as governor of Arkansas, Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday, "I've done the best I can to lead my life. "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. " She told reporters that she has studiously avoided any conflict of interest between her law firm and its business with the State of Arkansas. "I have never, ever shared in a penny of state funds," she said.

A South Jersey prison inmate has been charged with threatening to kill U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Federal authorities said the man had a violent past and figured an assassination would bring him fame. Edward A. Falvey, 51, was charged on Monday in U.S. District Court with threatening to kill an immediate family member of a former president, a federal crime. Authorities did not publicize the arrest, and Clinton is identified in court papers only as "H.R.C. " Falvey, a New York bank robber serving a 30-month term at the federal prison in Fairton, Cumberland County, was scheduled for release in June.

A poised and confident-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton came here yesterday to deliver her first speech since President Clinton's admission of an "inappropriate" relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky. She talked about peace, she talked about women's role in democracy, and she talked about women who put their families first. She did not say a word about the Lewinsky sex scandal. But her reference three times to the President as "my husband" left little doubt that Hillary Clinton was standing by her man. Sleek in a dark navy knit pantsuit, she smiled later when asked how she was feeling.

In a departure from the diplomatic, coddling language that visiting U.S. officials and businessmen typically use when speaking on Chinese soil, Hillary Rodham Clinton lashed out yesterday at China for curtailing the freedom of the participants in the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women and a related conference. In a speech that listed numerous human rights violations against women around the world, including forced abortions and female infanticide in China, Clinton referred to China's conduct of the conference as yet another example of women being denied their rights.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is not ready to speak out publicly in support of her husband as she has in other times of personal crisis, nor is she ready to add to the public criticisms, according to people close to her. 'She is committed to her marriage. The first lady is a believer in the vows of marriage," said former press secretary Lisa Caputo. "Clearly, this is not easy," Caputo said. "It is extremely painful. During difficult times such as this, she tends to draw on her deep religious faith and the support of her family, her mother and her brothers.

Hillary Clinton apologized yesterday for discussing rumors that President Bush had an extramarital affair. In a profile of her written by Gail Sheehy in the May issue of Vanity Fair, Hillary Clinton says: "I had tea with Anne Cox Chambers (head of the Cox newspaper chain) and she's sittin' there in her sun room saying, 'You know I just don't understand why they think they can get away with this - everybody knows about George Bush.' "And then (Chambers) launches into this long description of, you know, Bush and his carrying on, all of which is apparently well known in Washington.

Seems to be de rigueur to be in a tizz about Hillary Clinton these days. Everyone has an opinion about what she's doing, what she should be doing and what she should not be doing. Hillary Clinton has become the functional equivalent of a national Rorschach test of our attitudes toward the changing role of women. All the doubt, guilt, anxiety and confusion we feel are being projected onto Mrs. Clinton, who is being made to stand for everything from a role model for working mothers to some fang-dripping militant feminist.

MILWAUKEE - President Obama's administration launched a multipronged assault on Mitt Romney's values and foreign policy credentials Sunday, while a fresh set of prominent Republicans rallied behind the GOP front-runner as the odds-on nominee, further signs the general election is overtaking primary season. A defiant Rick Santorum outlined plans to leave Wisconsin the day before the state's contest Tuesday, an indication that the conservative favorite may be in retreat, his chances to stop Romney dwindling.

WASHINGTON - Dorothy Howell Rodham, 92, mother of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton's mother-in-law, died Tuesday after an illness. The family said Mrs. Rodham died, surrounded by her family, at a Washington hospital. Hillary Clinton had canceled a planned trip to London and Istanbul to be at her mother's side. In a statement, the Clinton family hailed Mrs. Rodham as a woman who "overcame abandonment and hardship as a young girl to become the remarkable woman she was - a warm, generous and strong woman; an intellectual; a woman who told a great joke and always got the joke; an extraordinary friend and, most of all, a loving wife, mother and grandmother.

Enough with Obama; Hillary in 2012 As our president continues to founder, hamstrung by ideology and lack of executive experience, it is time for his most competent cabinet member to step up. Hillary Clinton should resign today and begin her 2012 presidential run. She has proven that the "3 a.m. phone call" line she used in the 2008 campaign was correct. Obama has turned out to be a major disappointment. America needs a leader. The best Democrat is Hillary Clinton. We need the best Republican to run against her and let Americans choose the best leader to get us out of our current mess.

IF IT weren't so tragic, it would be humorous. The bias in your newspapers. If you slant anymore to the left, you just might fall over. It's disgusting how you ignore the liberal lies, and jump all over any conservative statement. When did you stop hiring journalists? All you have are lapdogs for Mr. Obama. (I refuse to call him president.) After researching him, I am appalled that so many Americans are blind to his Marxism. His own words give him away. You've ignored all his czars, to the point of sheer stupidity.

DEAR GOV. PALIN: Hmmm . . . maybe I shouldn't even be calling you "Governor. " You were in office, what - less than three years? You didn't even serve a full term before you quit. I never understood why. It's not like you were headed for a higher office or anything. It's just that you quit. And I don't like quitters. Yes, I suppose you saw an opportunity to make a lot of money and gain a broader national platform. And I imagine Alaska can get pretty boring. But these concerns are minor compared with some of the concerns I have about you lately.

W HITNEY HOUSTON still has a problem. A rep for the "I Will Always Love You (Crack)" singer confirmed yesterday that Whitney is back in rehab, participating in an out-patient program for drug and alcohol treatment. She says it is a voluntary measure and part of Houston's "long-standing" recovery process. Whitney has battled drug addiction for years. But in 2009, as she released a comeback album, she declared herself healthy and clean. Not so much. Her 2010 tour overseas was plagued by missed performances and missed notes, and Whitney received negative reviews from fans who were disappointed in the quality of her voice and the price of tickets.

IF YOU HAD to put your money on any Pennsylvania bigwig getting an invite to the Chelsea Clinton-Marc Mezvinsky political wedding of the new millennium tomorrow in upstate New York, it would have to be Gov. Rendell, right? Rendell has been a friend of Bill Clinton's for 20 years, a defender to the death of Hillary Clinton during the down-and-dirty 2008 Pennsylvania primary, and a longtime mover in the state's Democratic circles with the former-congressperson parents of the groom, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Ed Mezvinsky.

From lawsuits to pantsuits, infidelity to electoral victory, Bill and Hillary Clinton's sometimes dysfunctional, always fascinating marriage is the stuff of American political legend. Or the source of excruciating embarrassment. That's why nobody would be surprised if their daughter was a little gun-shy about matrimony. Yet Clinton, 30, and her fiance Marc Mezvinsky, 32, are set to exchange vows Saturday in a lavish ceremony in (we think) Rhinebeck, N.Y., that, naturally, is being touted as the wedding of the decade.

THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP. 9 p.m. Saturday, HBO. BEFORE HE was introduced to fans of NBC's "30 Rock" as the man Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) seemed destined to settle for, British actor Michael Sheen had developed a small sideline based on his likeness to Britain's former prime minister, the charismatic and controversial Tony Blair. Fey, herself the bemused beneficiary of a resemblance to a politician, could probably identify. But where Fey's "Saturday Night Live" impersonation of Sarah Palin has been played for laughs, Sheen's portrayals have been in dramas, all written by Peter Morgan (who also wrote "Frost/Nixon," in which Sheen played the talk-show inquisitor to Frank Langella's Nixon)

The Pew Charitable Trusts has hired Tamera Stanton Luzzatto, Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff while in the U.S. Senate, to manage its government relations. Luzzatto will manage all of Pew's government relations in the United States and abroad. She will be stationed in Pew's Washington offices. A graduate of Harvard University, Luzzatto served as Clinton's chief of staff from 2001 to 2009. Previously, she worked on the staff of West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV.    - Christopher K. Hepp