WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein ended a very personal campaign when she welcomed Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to her home Thursday for their first meeting since Obama wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1978, the San Francisco Democrat was among the first women to become mayor of a major American city. Fourteen years later, she and Barbara Boxer were elected as California's first female U.S. senators. This year, she ardently hoped Clinton would become the first woman to claim the White House.
But Thursday at 9 p.m., it fell to Feinstein to help guide Clinton's historic campaign to a close. "It's a very hard loss," Feinstein said Friday, reflecting on her bittersweet duty. "I wanted very much to see her succeed."
Feinstein -- whose arrival in Washington coincided with President-elect Clinton's -- has known Hillary Clinton for more than 15 years. Shortly after Feinstein moved to the capital, the Clintons invited her to the White House when she was alone on her birthday. Both Clintons campaigned frequently for her in California, although Feinstein at times broke with the White House on pieces of legislation -- and was infuriated by Bill Clinton's lies about his affair with Monica S. Lewinsky.
When the former first lady was gearing up her presidential run last summer, Feinstein was among the first of her Senate colleagues to offer an endorsement, noting the pathbreaking nature of Clinton's candidacy.
"The position of America today really warrants someone in her shoes, and the fact that her shoes maybe have an inch or two of heels doesn't matter," Feinstein told reporters when she announced her endorsement of the New York senator during a conference call in July.
Feinstein, who turns 75 this month, is 14 years older than Clinton. Both identify with the first generation of women who challenged barriers in politics and elsewhere.
"I have often felt that younger women don't really think about what it was like," Feinstein said. "People forget that we have had to fight for much of everything. . . . She has been part of that. She has gone through all of these women's movements and matured through it, as I hope I have."
Feinstein, who like Clinton voted to authorize the war in Iraq and clashed with the liberal wing of the party over that, campaigned beside Clinton as she fought to hold off Obama in California's Feb. 5 primary.
