At an evening reception for former Texas Sen. Lloyd Benson on Capitol Hill, freshman Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has a private word. In the doorway stands one of the members of the Secret Service who accompany the former first lady. As a first-term senator, Clinton is seen by her supporters as a policy innovator who is becoming more and more active in her party's leadership structure. Clinton is the only first lady ever to win election to a federal office. (May 2001)