http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/politics/01hillary.htmlAs Clinton Shifts Themes, Debate Arises on Her Motives
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Published: February 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 - Conservatives have long caricatured Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York's junior senator, as the sort of Democrat whose positions on social issues are out of step with Americans deeply concerned about religious and moral values.<snip>
"Recently, for example, Mrs. Clinton drew attention to her own spirituality as she discussed the major role that values played in the November elections. 'I have spent a lot of time over the course of my lifetime wrestling with and dealing with questions of my faith,' she told an audience at Tufts University in November."
"That faith, they say, has sustained her throughout a public life that has made her an object of painful scrutiny, particularly during her days in the White House dealing with issues like her husband's infidelity . . . A churchgoer for years, Mrs. Clinton also joined a prayer group led by Republicans when she took office in the Senate in 2001, her associates and aides note."
"Those who know her say one of the most influential figures in her life was Donald Jones, her youth minister in Park Ridge, Ill., who remained so close to her through the years that he sometimes accompanied her on the campaign trail to offer moral support during her 2000 Senate bid in New York." <snip>