HILLARY CLINTON IN NO RUSH TO ENTER U.S. SENATE RACE.

Byline: Elisabeth Bumiller The New York Times

As Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she is giving ``careful thought'' to running for the U.S. Senate from New York, the first lady's friends and advisers warned her that a race could be brutal and that the easy victory predicted by state party leaders is not at all guaranteed.

The first lady said she will reach a decision later this year and added that she is ``deeply gratified by the large number of people'' who are encouraging her to seek the seat of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who is retiring in 2000.

``It will be a nasty fight,'' said one of Hillary Clinton's longtime friends and political advisers, speaking of a potential opponent, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City. ``Everything in Hillary's background will be recycled,'' continued the adviser, who insisted on anonymity. ``She has to think about whether she is prepared to go through this battering.''

Democrats in New York and elsewhere were taken aback Tuesday by Hillary Clinton's statement that she will delay a decision until later in the year. If she waits too long, the delay would paralyze other Democratic candidates who need the time to raise the $10 million to $20 million required for the race.

``She needs to think and think fast,'' said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress. ``That is, unless you want to give the New York Senate seat to Giuliani.''

So far, Rep. Nita Lowey of Westchester County is the only Democrat to say she is seriously considering the race. Lowey has said repeatedly that she will not run if the first lady does.

Major Democratic fund-raisers said Tuesday that Hillary Clinton would have no problem raising money, and that she could do it in two to three months.

As Hillary Clinton mulls her decision, her advisers are making calls to New York political leaders and consultants to gauge the depth of the first lady's support in New York. Polls show her to be enormously popular statewide, at least for now.

Harold Ickes, a former White House official who discussed the Senate race with Hillary Clinton just a few days ago, is to meet today in Miami with Dennis Rivera, one of the most powerful labor leaders in New York City. ``I'm anxious to talk to him about it,'' said Rivera, president of Local 1199 of the hospital workers union. ``We certainly are encouraging her to run.''

But Hillary Clinton's advisers say the first lady must resolve a number of concerns before she enters the race.

The most important concern, they say, is that she and President Clinton are already in serious debt and face what one adviser estimated to be more than $3 million in legal bills. Senators make $136,700 a year, and conflict-of-interest rules constrain their ability to earn outside income.

After the Clintons leave the White House, many Democrats view Hillary Clinton as the more marketable of the two through the lecture circuit and a multimillion-dollar book contract should she write her memoirs. One longtime friend of Hillary Clinton said it was unfair, however, that the first lady, who has been the primary breadwinner through most of the Clintons' marriage, should be expected to continue in that role after her husband leaves office.

``Why is it her responsibility to take care of the financial situation?'' the friend asked.

Hillary Clinton's advisers also are telling her that she will face personal attacks from her opponents on her role in the Whitewater and Travelgate scandals and her failure on health care reform. Friends say she has little experience in dealing with the press on her own, and that her relationship with reporters is often skittish and tense. Numerous Democrats said Tuesday that the New York press corps is particularly combative.

One Clinton adviser called Giuliani a formidable candidate who would run on a record of lowered crime, reduced welfare rolls and the overall comeback of New York City in recent years.

On Tuesday, Giuliani refused to discuss Hillary Clinton's possible candidacy. ``I have no idea what problems there would be in a hypothetical race that hasn't taken place yet except in your imaginations,'' Giuliani said at a news conference. ``She hasn't decided to run. I haven't decided to run. I learned in politics a long time ago that until there is a race everything is speculation.''

Peter Powers, the former deputy mayor who managed Giuliani's mayoral campaigns, said Hillary Clinton is untested as a candidate and that ``she'd have to prove why she should be senator over someone who's turned around a city when everybody said it couldn't be turned around.''

No matter how popular she is now, Hillary Clinton's advisers said she would be making a mistake if she is tempted to conduct a Rose Garden strategy and stick close to the White House. New Yorkers would expect her to spend large amounts of time campaigning in the state, even without a serious primary opponent. (Under New York law, a candidate for U.S. Senate does not have to establish residency in the state until Election Day - November 2000 in this case.)

Other White House advisers say they think a Senate campaign is more appealing to Hillary Clinton than actually serving in the Senate, where she would be a freshman and perhaps not part of the majority party. The advisers say Hillary Clinton is very enticed by the idea of at last having an independent voice, particularly after her husband risked his presidency and publicly humiliated her by his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

One close friend said Tuesday that the Clinton marriage has been healing since Hillary Clinton's birthday in October, and that the president is thrilled at the prospect of his wife's Senate candidacy. On Monday, Clinton said his wife would be a great senator from New York, but that the idea had not occurred to her until ``a lot of people started calling.''

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PHOTO (color) Advisers have told Hillary Rodham Clinton that running for U.S. Senate in New York won't be easy.