Officials insist that her emergence–while Mrs. Clinton stayed back in New York to campaign for the Senate–does not signal a new, enhanced role as surrogate First Lady. But the rare photos reminded Americans that she is probably up to the task. She sprinkled petals at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial and kibitzed with photographers with the self-possession of a political pro. “Hey, you guys,” she quizzed, “did you know that they built the Taj Mahal at this point on the river because it [the river] is in the shape of a crescent moon?” Aides still throw a protective shroud over her schedule, but they acknowledge the change. “She’s more accustomed to having people greet her as a person who’s well known,” said Lissa Muscatine, Mrs. Clinton’s White House press secretary.
With Chelsea now away at school, the Clintons use the long overseas trips to stay connected to their daughter. Last year she traveled with her father to New Zealand, and aides say the famously mercurial president is in noticeably better spirits when she is around. Bunking together on a 1999 trek through Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, mother and daughter discussed a possible Senate campaign in New York, and Chelsea gave her blessing.
Her life at Stanford seems to have settled into a comfortable normalcy. Chelsea sightings, complete with apple-cheeked Secret Service agents trailing discreetly behind her on bicycles, scarcely create a ripple on campus anymore. Friends say she’s still leaning toward a career in pediatric medicine, and while she may campaign for Mom this summer, nothing is planned right now. If she does, says a family friend, “it will be her decision.”
