To the Loser Go the Spoils

Hillary Clinton returns to her Senate office -- for the first time since suspending her presidential bid -- to find a ping-pong game in session. (Courtesy of Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines)

"We need you!" said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.).

"You need me?" Clinton replied. "You need my vote."

"We need a lot more than that," Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), head of the Senate Democrats' campaign effort, assured her.

Indeed, they need her 18 million supporters -- and they were tripping over themselves to make nice to the fallen candidate. "Hillary Clinton is a great, stalwart Democrat and a friend of mine," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced to reporters, with Clinton at his side.

After Clinton's brief words to her colleagues at the lunch, Reid and other Democratic leaders formed a procession to escort Clinton toward the reporters outside. Reid described "one of the most emotional caucuses I've attended," complete with tears. But he also made it clear that, in the Senate, he was in charge. He introduced Clinton, decreed that "she'll be happy to take a couple of questions now" and decided when to cut off the session.

Clinton delivered a version of the party-unity theme she had voiced behind closed doors. "I come back with an even greater depth of awareness about what we have to do here in Washington," she said. She spoke with vagueness about her new role ("to be the very best senator I can be"), her plans ("I'm rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work") and her vice presidential ambitions ("I am not seeking any other position"). And she repeated the requisite promise to "work very hard to elect Senator Obama our president."

The ceremonial welcome over, it was time for Clinton to get back to the humdrum life of the legislator. She returned to her old office on the fourth floor of the Russell Building and, handing off her handbag to Reines, began to greet her aides -- until she heard the cheers coming from her office. Inside, she found the players, referees in uniforms borrowed from Foot Locker, three dozen staffers, and signs saying "I like Mike" and "I'm an Ann Fan."

"Silence, please!" the line judge called out.

Clinton beckoned to the ping-pong table. "I think we'll leave this right here -- it doubles as a conference table," she proposed. "Now," she added, "we've got to get back to work."

Moments later, the ping-pong table was gone, and Clinton had sat down for a meeting with Gen. Wesley Clark.