Hillary Clinton is throwing her support behind a candidate whose opposition to drivers’ licenses for illegal immigrants tripped up her 2008 presidential campaign.
The former New York senator and secretary of state has recorded a robocall for Kathy Hochul, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
The call also backs Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for re-election, but it focuses on Hochul — who became a key opponent of granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants in New York, a proposal that Clinton had supported.	
The drivers license fight eventually made it into an early presidential debate in 2007 in which Clinton struggled to articulate her position.
“As a New Yorker, I’d be proud to have Kathy fighting for our state,” Clinton says on the call. “When she was in Congress, Kathy showed she knows how to find common ground but also stand her ground for what’s right. As our lieutenant governor, she’ll never, ever give up on New York’s families.”
A spokesman for Clinton did not confirm whether Clinton still supports drivers licenses for illegal immigrants, or whether her position has become more in line with Hochul’s.
Hochul was Eerie County clerk when she became a key figure to oppose former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give illegal immigrants drivers licenses, a proposal that ultimately failed in the face of staunch opposition. In a 2011 campaign ad, Hochul bragged that she “led the fight against giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses” in New York.
Clinton famously danced around the issue, for a grueling three minutes, when it arose during a Democratic primary debate Oct. 30, 2007. Moderator Tim Russert asked Clinton whether, after saying previously that issuing such licenses “makes a lot of sense”, she agreed with Spitzer that illegal immigrants should be allowed drivers licenses.
Clinton waffled, and one of her opponents, Sen. Chris Dodd, went on the attack. “The idea that we’re going to extend this privilege of a drivers license is troublesome,” he said.
After Russert pressed Clinton further, she walked her previous comment back: “I didn’t say it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do it.”
“It makes a lot of sense,” Clinton continued. “What is the governor supposed to do? We are dealing with a serious problem. Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do? No. But do I understand the sense of real desperation, trying to get a handle on this? In New York, we want to know who is in New York. We want people to come out of the shadows. He’s making an honest effort to do it, we should have passed immigration reform.”
The most memorable moment of the debate, the exchange hurt Clinton early in the primary process, although it was not decisive.
Even so, Clinton has sound political reason to put the past behind her and help Hochul, who faces a surging challenge from Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia University. That reason, in short, is Cuomo.
Cuomo has faced some unexpected speed bumps during the Democratic primary, including an endorsement snub from The New York Times and fierce backlash from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Cuomo is still expected to win handily in the Democratic primary against Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham University law professor. But Hochul is Cuomo’s pick for lieutenant governor, and it would be a big blow to Cuomo’s image should she lose to Wu, another progressive protest candidate.
For Clinton, boosting Hochul to victory could earn chits from Cuomo, a major Democratic player who is thought to have his own ambitions to seek the presidency in 2016.
