“So when are you going to take on Hillary?” My friend Ann raised her Democrat eyebrow high enough to let me know she was looking for an argument.

“I know that you and your pals hate the Clintons,” she challenged as I wondered how this “friend” could have come to that conclusion. How could I possibly hate anyone I’ve never even met?

Her comment, however, made me review my columns written during what Bill and Hillary Clinton called their co-presidency. I found no evidence of hateful language nor did I indulge in any personal attacks. In fact, on two occasions, I defended Mrs. Clinton against what I felt was unfair criticism. My opinion that the Clinton presidency was disastrous was based on facts, not on a personal distaste for the couple.

Last year, when Edward Klein’s book, “The Truth About Hillary,” came out, I wrote a column abrading the author for delving in tabloid sensationalism with titillating personal disclosures. I made this judgment based only on the reviews. I even suggested that Mr. Klein wrote the book to curry sympathy for our senator and that in the end it would benefit her.

Cripes, was I wrong! After getting a copy from the publisher and actually reading it, I wonder how anyone could consider voting for her, either for the Senate or the presidency. Then I wake up and realize that, come November, the liberal majority here will have their pitcher of Kool-Aid at the ready before they re-elect her.

Right now, her only opponents are a former Yonkers mayor, John Spencer, and Kathleen Troia McFarland, who announced that she shares many of Clinton’s positions. Although I’ve never met Ms. McFarland, and I’ve been told by several people that she seems to be a very nice person, I’m really not interested in meeting a Hillary clone.

I did meet Mr. Spencer, who came to the Sun office several weeks ago. He drove himself here with no entourage or campaign aides to monitor his comments. We sat in the conference room and chatted for more than an hour, and I realized that the Clinton campaign would probably skewer him over his private life. I was wrong. The McFarland campaign manager, Ed Rollins, ignored Reagan’s edict of never attacking another Republican, and savaged him viciously.

John Spencer is a flawed man who made mistakes in his younger years. In fact, I’ve been married to a man like that for over 30 years. People do change, and it appears that Mr. Spencer, to his credit, has no problem admitting his mistakes. He is running his senatorial campaign on his many accomplishments while in elected office and offers proposals to better New York. He does not back away from his pro-life position and that qualifies him as an extremely brave candidate in New York.

I have no intention of “taking on” Senator Clinton, but I believe we should take a good look at her record to see how our state has fared having two representatives from the party not in power. She has a reputation as a very hard worker, but the question is: for whom? Senator Clinton did a yeoman’s job securing the lifting of Chinese tariff restrictions, which greatly benefited an upstate company, Corning. Good for Corning – which, incidentally, has become the second largest contributor to her campaign. Yet Corning closed a glass factory in Fall Brook in 2002 and 150 workers lost their jobs. Since 2005, factories in Lockport, Binghampton and Ira, N.Y., have closed. Upstate New York is hurting and voters need to know what happened to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign promise to create jobs.

Mentioning China reminds me why I lost all respect for the Clintons. We all remember Sexgate but not Chinagate. It wasn’t Monica Lewinsky that should have appalled us as much as it was our president getting campaign funds from the Chinese communists in exchange for access to computer technology that enhanced their military capabilities. I ranted with details about this and other security breakdowns in addition to the disregard for the civil rights of those who trespassed the Clintons’ path. Many who dared to criticize the president and his first lady were routinely audited by the IRS, and were accused by Mrs. Clinton of being part of “the vast right wing conspiracy.”

New Yorkers should only be interested in facts, not empty promises, as the race for the Senate gears up. Edward Klein’s book describes how far Hillary Clinton will go to become president. I think New Yorkers deserve someone who just wants to be our senator.