Potential Rival Gives Support to First Lady’s Expected Bid

In a move that clears the way for Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for the U.S. Senate, Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) announced Thursday that she is dropping out of the race. Lowey informed Hillary Clinton of her decision in a telephone call and offered her support to the first lady’s expected candidacy.

“Nita called the first lady, told the first lady that it was clear to her that [she] was going to run for the Senate and that therefore Nita was going to run for the House,” said her spokesman Howard Wolfson. In a brief statement issued at the White House, Hillary Clinton thanked the Westchester County congresswoman for her support.

The story was briefly overshadowed, however, by what seemed to be a dramatic announcement: that Hillary Clinton would be forming an exploratory committee next month to run for the seat being vacated next year by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

According to an afternoon Associated Press story, Harold M. Ickes, a top advisor to the first lady, had said Hillary Clinton “will be forming” an exploratory committee early next month.

Ickes’ comments set off a flurry of speculation, rumor and response in Washington and New York because it seemed to be the announcement that hordes of journalists had been waiting weeks to report. Late in the day, however, Ickes contacted several news organizations, including The Times, and told reporters that his comments had been misinterpreted by an AP reporter.

“Mrs. Clinton is going to press forward as she has in the past,” said Ickes, who almost never makes on-the-record statements about Clinton’s potential campaign to reporters. “There has been discussion about but no decision made about an exploratory committee, and if I said what I said to the AP reporter, I overstated it.”