Politics

By EDWARD BARNES

It seems that almost everyone won something from the meeting between Teamster president JAMES P. HOFFA and President BILL CLINTON last Thursday in New York City. Clinton secured Hoffa's backing for HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON's bid for a Senate seat. Hoffa was publicly accepted as a national labor leader--or at least one with whom you could be seen in public. In fact, it was Clinton, not labor, who pushed hard for the invitation. If there was any loser, it was AL GORE. Hoffa remained firmly in the camp of those who want the AFL-CIO to withhold its early support for Gore, which could hurt the Vice President dearly. Gore needs labor's backing and, most important, its dollars to shore up his flagging fund-raising efforts. Now Gore will have to spend time and money courting the leaders whose support seemed certain just weeks ago. It may be tough. Several labor leaders grumbled that Gore had hired nonunion electricians to set up his campaign headquarters in Nashville, Tenn. Ouch.

--By Edward Barnes