NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. Senate candidate John Spencer said his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a "tremendous" candidate for president, but that he was the one more interested in representing the state of New York. "I'm the only one standing here that wants to be a United States senator for the next six years for the people of New York," said Spencer, a Republican, during a second debate between the two candidates held Sunday morning.
He added that although he thought Clinton would make an excellent presidential candidate, he "wouldn't be voting for her" and was not endorsing her.
Clinton, a Democrat and the heavily favored incumbent, resisted any promise when asked whether she could repeat a 2000 vow to serve a full six-year term in the Senate. But she insisted that she had not made any decisions regarding running for president and that she was focused on heading back to the Senate.
Spencer is an ultraconservative former mayor of the New York City suburb of Yonkers, battling anonymity and a national party that has forsaken his candidacy.
A statewide poll released last week by Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute had Clinton leading Spencer 65 percent to 30 percent. She has also far outspent him.
