For The Record

Hillary Clinton's alleged tendency to change her positions to match the public mood made her the primary target of her fellow Democrats during their Oct. 30 debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia, but the sharpest putdown came at Rudy Giuliani's expense.

Ms. Clinton, with an overwhelming lead in the polls, used the political equivalent of the prevent defense, letting her opponents run up yardage in small chunks at her expense to avoid making a big mistake by gambling on a snappy rejoinder. She pursued this policy even when asked about shots Mr. Giuliani has taken at her. (Our own feeling is that New York's junior Senator has played such a pivotal role in Mr. Giuliani's convincing national Republicans that they should overlook his positions on social issues because he's the guy that can beat her, it would be wise for our former Mayor to assign a couple of members of his security detail to her campaign to assure that she remains healthy.)

But if she wasn't inclined to return fire, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was willing to do so for her.

"The irony is Rudy - Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency - is talking about any of the people here," Mr. Biden said.

"There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11."

That earned the biggest laugh of the night from the heavily Democratic audience, as well as a rebuke from Giuliani campaign spokeswoman Katie Levinson.

Referring to Mr. Biden having lifted key lines for a speech during the 1988 presidential campaign from a British politician, she contrasted him with her candidate by saying in a statement, "Rudy rarely reads prepared speeches, and when he does, he isn't prone to ripping off the text from others."

She stepped up the offensive by noting that like many of the other Democratic candidates who lack Mr. Giuliani's experience as a chief executive, "Senator Biden has never run anything but his mouth."

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Meanwhile, the Good Ship Rudy got another jolt from the ex-Mayor's personal iceberg, Bernie Kerik, when the former Correction and Police Commissioner's old lawyers sued him for $202,384 in unpaid legal bills.

The firm, Fulbright and Jaworski, helped keep Mr. Kerik out of jail 17 months ago, when he pleaded guilty to improperly accepting nearly $200,000 from individuals who were seeking to do business with the Giuliani administration.

His new lawyer, Chad Seigel, stated in an e-mail that Mr. Kerik was overbilled by Fulbright and "would never have authorized such continued services had he been aware of their sheer volume and the related costs."

It occurs to us that Our Boy Bernie - who is expected to be hit with a new Federal indictment shortly - is an unfortunate victim of circumstance here. He might have been able to get his legal fees covered by the same allegedly mob-connected contractor that paid for $165,000 of his home-renovation expenses, except that his plea deal last year involved implicating the firm's two principals, who were later indicted. That may explain their reluctance to pick up this particular tab.

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District Council 37 Local 372's general membership meeting last week had more than its usual share of excitement. When former union rep Jesse Teitler went to the microphone to defend himself against what he felt was a personal attack by President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, the union president tried to rule him out of order.

When parliamentary procedure failed, she turned off the microphone. But Mr. Teitler was not deterred. He whipped out a bullhorn and self-amplified the remainder of his comments.

Building security guards were called, but supporters of the Loader and Handler, who is running against Ms. Costa next spring, blocked them from curtailing the rest of his comments. "I knew she would shut it off," he said, "so I came prepared."

When he was finished, he went back to his seat, picked up his hat and coat and exited the building. He also took his bullhorn. If this becomes a regular occurrence, members may want to request a gift certificate for Radio Shack in place of their yearly turkey vouchers.