Clintons Mix Family Ties, Party Politics : Campaign: President, First Lady speak at sparsely attended rally for brother-in-law Hugh Rodham, a long-shot U.S. Senate hopeful.

The voters have been ignoring one of them. A lot of Democratic candidates have been shunning the other.

But Hugh Rodham and Bill Clinton found mutual support in each other’s company Saturday as the President made his first and perhaps only campaign appearance for the fast-fading U.S. Senate campaign of his brother-in-law. With Rodham’s sister, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, beaming at his side, Clinton called the first-time candidate a “good man” at a fund-raiser that sold $10 tickets to about 200 Miamians.

“If you want somebody who will say yes to your future, no to going back . . . you vote for him,” Clinton said.

The crowd wasn’t nearly enough to fill the seats at a rented hall, even though the gathering included a few flag-waving Haitians and several busloads of elderly Democratic volunteers who had been brought in from more than an hour’s drive away. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted at the outset that the fight against Sen. Connie Mack is “an uphill battle.”

Yet for all that, the 45-minute appearance has been the biggest event to date in the former public defender’s campaign. An Oct. 1 poll showed him trailing Mack 20% to 65%. The Rodham campaign has been plagued by staff departures and fund-raising problems, and it has yet to broadcast a TV ad in a state where they are a necessity.

Rodham has so far amassed about $450,000, including $2,000 recently contributed by the Clintons, compared with the $2.5 million in Mack’s coffers. Saturday’s fund-raiser and $1,000-a-plate dinner added $52,000.

While some top Democrats have praised the 44-year-old Rodham for taking on a race no stronger candidate would brave, many of them are lined up with Mack, the one-term former banker.

Robert Joffee, director of the nonpartisan Mason-Dixon Florida Poll, struggles to stifle laughter when he tries to describe the race. “If Bill Clinton thinks he had a hard time with health care, he ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Rodham beat a primary rival earlier this month, but even this victory seemed only a minor accomplishment. His opponent was a disc jockey known for his views that the government was covering up visits by extraterrestrials.

Political professionals in Florida point out that the race puts the Clintons in an uncomfortable position: They’ll be embarrassed by too close an association with the race, yet, since Rodham is kin, they can’t entirely avoid him without provoking criticism.

Rodham acknowledged that the Clintons had tried to talk him out of the long-shot undertaking. But the White House is now all for him, says an aide. “This is about the President and First Lady being supportive of their family.”

Campaigning earlier Saturday in Connecticut, Clinton accused Republicans in Congress of returning to Nixonian “enemies list” politics and blocking lobbying reform to curry favor with powerful Washington interests.

Clinton was referring to a controversial private meeting last week in which Republican House Whip Newt Gingrich told lobbyists they should contribute to Republicans in gratitude for the GOP’s block of a lobby-reform bill. He also referred to Gingrich’s assertion that if the Republicans regain the House, they will form a committee to look into alleged Administration corruption.

“They’ll give you trickle-down economics and abuse-of-power politics,” Clinton told an enthusiastic Democratic fund-raiser.