WASHINGTON – Sen. Hillary Clinton says she’ll be a biker babe come spring – donning denim, boots and a helmet to ride the motorcycle of a ponytailed Republican senator from Colorado.
“As soon as the weather gets warm,” Clinton told The Post, when asked when she’ll take her ride. “Spring or when it’s warm out.”
Clinton, who had her colleagues in stitches when she joked with Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell about their plans to ride off into the countryside on his Harley-Davidson, also revealed her own biker past.
“I’ve been on motorcycles before. I love them,” Clinton said, recalling her days as a free-spirited coed at Wellesley and Yale, where she said she was a passenger on a motorcycle.
She also said her motorcycle days came before Bill Clinton was on the scene, although she didn’t go into detail.
The odd image of Clinton and Campbell riding off together prompted at least one of her colleagues to express concern about her safety aboard the bike known as a “Hog.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told Clinton to “be careful,” since the Senate is tied 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans.
Clinton promptly replied: “If we have an accident it will be 49-49.”
In an interview with The Post, Campbell said he first offered Clinton a ride on one of his two motorcycles about five years ago. She was living in the White House but visiting the Capitol.
“She said she’d like a ride. I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ But she said she wasn’t dressed for it and would have to ride another time,” recalled Campbell, famous for riding his noisy Harley custom “Softtail” right up to the steps of the Capitol.
Campbell repeated his offer to Clinton twice yesterday – once during an Environment Committee hearing and later in the hallway. “I told her we can ride as far as she likes,” recalled the salty GOP lawmaker, who keeps his hair tidy with five colored rubber bands.
“It would be good for her. It’s a perfect way to relax,” he said. “But I can’t do anything for her Secret Service, with all their wires and guns.”