Mar 2, 2008 6:00 am US/Mountain
Clinton, TV Double Meet On 'Saturday Night Live'
Former Republican Candidate Rudolph Giuliani Also Makes Appearance
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Hillary Rodham Clinton took a break from the campaign trail
to thank "Saturday Night Live" for giving her candidacy a boost-although
she failed to get an official endorsement from the show.
Clinton's
campaign has gotten a good deal of mileage out of an "SNL" sketch
from a week ago in which reporters fawned over her rival, Barack Obama. Clinton brought up the
sketch during last Tuesday's debate between the two candidates, and the
campaign has encouraged supporters and voters to watch it on NBC's Web site.
This weekend's episode opened with a similar sketch
recreating Tuesday's debate. It portrayed NBC anchors Brian Williams and Tim Russert
asking Clinton,
played by Amy Poehler, tough questions while serving softballs to Obama.
Then the real Clinton
appeared onscreen with an "editorial response."
The sketch, she said, "wasn't an endorsement of one
candidate over another. I can say this confidently because when I asked if I could
take it as an endorsement, I was told, 'Absolutely not.' But I still enjoyed
that sketch a great deal because I simply adore Amy's impression of me."
Clinton continued to trade self-deprecating lines with her "SNL"
doppelganger. When Poehler asked her how the campaign was going, Clinton responded:
"The campaign is going very well. Very, very well. Why, what have you
heard?"
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who dropped out of
the Republican presidential race in January, appeared later on the "Weekend
Update" segment. Giuliani blamed his campaign's failure on a 1997 episode
of the show, in which he dressed in drag for one sketch.
It was the third consecutive "SNL" episode
featuring a presidential contender. Republican candidate Mike Huckabee appeared
on "Weekend Update" last week. On a November episode of
"SNL," the last before the Writers Guild of America strike, Obama
played himself as a guest at a party thrown by Hillary and Bill Clinton.
The music on this weekend's episode was performed by Wilco,
a Chicago-based band that performed at a fundraiser for Obama in December.
Clinton
is scheduled to appear on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart" on Monday. Last Thursday, she was featured in a brief comedy
segment on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
