Hillary in Frantic Bid to Outdo Bush in Baghdad

Upstaged by President Bush's amazing Thanksgiving Day visit with U.S. troops in Baghdad, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton seemed frantic on Friday to meet with more soldiers than Bush had seen during his appearance at the city's airport-turned-military base – and to be seen doing so in less-protected circumstances.

"At the moment, she is on a visit with a military division outside the security zone," Clinton's spokeswoman told Agence France-Press Friday afternoon, Iraq time.

Earlier in the day Clinton "had lunch with troops from her home state in the dining hall at [Saddam Hussein's former] palace," the press aide said.

Though there were no reports of the former first lady being greeted with the kind of standing ovations generated by the Bush visit, the Clinton flack did her best to paint a picture of an enthusiastic welcome for her boss, telling reporters, "She was walking through the hall [of the palace] and people were coming up to her."

Before lunch with American soldiers, the top Democrat met with senior officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority, including U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, whose surprise introduction of Bush yesterday had soldiers leaping to their feet in amazement.

The scene had to rankle the former first lady.

Her own trip to Afghanistan yesterday was dramatically overshadowed by the president's bombshell visit. And even though the Bush trip wasn't known when Clinton met with soldiers in Afghanistan, her own lackluster reception was something of a public relations disaster.

"I think they're more excited about [meeting] Geraldo," coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty told the Boston Globe, referring to the Fox News Channel correspondent who covered Clinton's visit with the troops at Bagram Air base.

With European press accounts describing Sen. Clinton as Bush's "undeclared Democratic opponent," she seemed determined to repair the damage, embarking on her whirlwind tour of Baghdad in an apparent bid to show that she was at least as big a military morale booster as the president.

"We are running a little bit behind schedule," Clinton's spokeswoman explained at one point. "She may then have time to meet with more U.S. troops."

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