Clintons Forgo Bunny Suits, Set Easter Egg Roll Hopping

No, the president and first lady did not dress as bunnies for Monday’s 117th annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

That’s what it seemed when a large Easter Bunny, accompanied by Mrs. Bunny, walked on stage and waved as an announcer introduced President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As children stared at the rabbits, trying to make sense of it all, the Clintons walked up beside the rabbits and started waving too.

“The man wearing the Easter egg tie is going to say a few words,” Mrs. Clinton said in opening the festivities, held each year on the White House’s South Lawn for thousands of excited children and their equally enthusiastic parents.

Clinton, in a dark suit and a navy tie with pastel eggs, noted that the day was sunny even though forecasts called for snow.

“We knew that the Easter Egg Roll wouldn’t be spoiled,” he said. “I love looking out and seeing all these smiling faces of parents with their children. I sometimes think the parents have more fun than the children do, but it really is for the children.”

Then he blew a whistle that sent the children, ages 3 to 6, scurrying down racing lanes, flicking dyed eggs with big spoons.

The crowd included children who are terminally ill and some who are blind, said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry. The blind children searched for eggs that beeped.

The White House used 7,000 hard-boiled eggs, dyed by the White House chef, and 27,000 wooden eggs bearing silhouettes of the White House and the Clintons’ signatures.