NEW YORK -- Hillary Rodham Clinton opened her remarks to a crowd of well-heeled Democrats at the Plaza Hotel yesterday with a coquettish hint about her much-rumored run for the Senate. Then she held her audience in suspense for a moment. Not even the silverware clanked.

And then she confessed that she had no announcement at all.

It was a flirtatious start to a speech that seemed to bat its eyes at a campaign in New York but make no commitment to it. Clinton, who surely knows by now that her every word will be turned inside out for clues to her political intentions, said she has begun to "think about the future in political terms" and believes that public service is a duty.

"I've always believed that we are at our best as a nation when everybody understands their obligation as a citizen," she said at a fund-raising luncheon for the Women's Leadership Forum, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, which conducted the event.

But if she was talking about herself, the first lady did not let on. She thanked audience members for their activism and said nothing about her own -- not specifically, anyway.

Her appearance at the Plaza yesterday -- on the first of two days of speaking engagements in New York -- milked the speculation that surrounds her possible bid for the seat of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat who is retiring next year.

Mixing inspirational campaign-style oratory with generic first-ladyisms, Clinton left the podium to scattered shouts of "Run, Hillary, run!"

"The real challenge for us is to decide whether all the sacrifices that were made in the past should just be honored by rhetoric or honored by action," she said. "Among our obligations, and among our debts that we owe to those who came before, are to be involved in the political process that makes the American democracy work."

Clinton, who beamed from the podium in a navy pantsuit and sparkling gold eagle pin, stuck to themes that highlighted the agenda of her husband's administration.

At the event -- which Clinton said she had planned two months ago, before the start of Senate rumors -- she praised the president's work on the economy, crime-fighting and abortion rights.

But the subtext to this day was all senatorial speculation.

'Think it's time'

In their remarks, Judith Hope, the New York state Democratic chairwoman, and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat for whom the first lady had campaigned last year, offered their own wink-and-nod commentary about Clinton's possible Senate bid.

"Don't you think it's time for a woman to represent New York in the U.S. Senate?" Schumer asked the crowd with an impish grin.

Members of the audience ate it up with their grilled chicken and couscous. To many in this friendly crowd -- 900 people who paid a total of $500,000 to the Democratic Party -- the impeachment trial and its nastiness seemed like a distant memory.

For this audience, the consuming issue was Hillary Clinton -- and the hope that she would run.

"It was exciting, it was invigorating," said Edith Fisher, an Upper East Side resident who shed her sheared beaver coat in the heat of the Plaza ballroom. "I think she's going to be a good candidate -- and I think this is going to be the race of the century."

Fisher lives across the street from Gracie Mansion, home of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani -- the other high-profile politician who is considering a run for Moynihan's seat. Giuliani, a Republican, was not caught up in the Clinton madness yesterday. He met with Republican senators in Washington and touted his successes in New York before a House government oversight panel.

Poll shows slippage

While yesterday's crowd seemed ready to endorse a Clinton candidacy, other New Yorkers may not be so sure. A statewide poll by the Marist Institute released yesterday showed Clinton beating Giuliani in a hypothetical contest by a statistically insignificant four percentage points. In a poll last month, the first lady had led Giuliani by 11 points.

Clinton has said she will announce her decision before the end of the year, but Democrats are eager for earlier word so they could mobilize another candidate should she decide not to run. But after yesterday, some New York politicians said they were convinced that Clinton would run.

"I'd say that's as close as anyone can come to declaring themselves a candidate," Peter Vallone, last year's defeated Democratic candidate for governor, said after hearing her speech. "I don't know how much closer she can get."

But to others, the speech seemed similar to countless remarks Clinton has made in the past. The only difference was the politically charged context.

"If there had never been a rumor, this speech would seem very similar in content and vision to ones she has already delivered," said Mark Green, New York City's public advocate.

Running for office in New York is supposed to be like a constant punch in the nose -- the press and the opposition are said to be rougher and ruder here. But the first lady, who never cracked publicly during the impeachment saga, seems to have some New York attitude of her own.

"Eleanor Roosevelt once said any woman in politics has to have rhinoceros skin," said Green. "Well, [Clinton] has the heart -- and the hide."

A call to avoid 'negativity'

But New York was anything but tough yesterday. Clinton began her day at a public school in Queens, where some teachers had removed newspaper clippings about the impeachment trial and other current events from their classroom doors so as not to offend her.

It was the first lady herself who obliquely raised the impeachment issue. She urged her crowd at the Plaza not to become disillusioned with politics despite the "negativity" that has surrounded it -- though, she added, "I certainly can understand why someone might feel that way." The audience laughed warmly.

If her audience was wooing Clinton, she seemed to be returning the pleasure.

"It gives me just such a boost to see all of you here," she said, "supporting causes and concerns we all share."

Pub Date: 3/04/99