By Andrew Cain
                      THE WASHINGTON TIMES

                           President Clinton accepts some blame for Vice President
                      Al Gore's election defeat, noting that his administration's
                      seizure of Elian Gonzalez might have cost the vice president
                      "a lot of votes" in Florida.
                           "And if it did, I feel very badly about it, because this wasn't
                      anything that anybody dreamed up," Mr. Clinton told the CBS
                      program "60 Minutes II," referring to the return to Cuba of the
                      6-year-old refugee.
                           Mr. Clinton, in an interview broadcast Tuesday night, also
                      noted that some voters in West Virginia blamed his administration
                      for not moving quicker to block imports of cheap steel.
                           "I don't think they're right about it, but they did blame us for
                      the closing of a steel mill there."
                           Mr. Clinton said he has mulled those issues since Texas
                      Gov. George W. Bush clinched the Electoral College.
                           Mr. Clinton said the nation's strong economy and
                      dropping crime rate should have more than made up for those
                      policy complications. But he refused to chime in with
                      Democratic leaders who say Mr. Gore underused him on the
                      campaign trail.
                           "I don't believe the rest of us should second-guess the
                      leader of the team, including me," he said.
                           Mr. Clinton said the nation should accept the U.S.
                      Supreme Court's 5-4 decision to halt the hand recounts in
                      Florida, and he wished Mr. Bush well.
                           But he left little doubt that he disagrees with the court's
                      ruling and suggested it was politically motivated. He also said
                      he was not surprised that the high court took the case and
                      stopped the count.
                           "No, not after eight years in Washington, I wasn't. They
                      had the power to do it, and they did it," he said.
                           Mr. Clinton said that if he could recommend one book for
                      the president-elect to read, it would be David Herbert
                      Donald's biography of Abraham Lincoln.
                           The movie he would recommend is "High Noon," because
                      "Gary Cooper does the right thing even when people leave
                      him, and even though he's scared," Mr. Clinton said.
                           Mr. Clinton said his finest hour as president and one of his
                      darkest hours both came in 1993. He felt a sense of triumph
                      when his economic package prevailed in the House and in the
                      Senate by one vote each. But that same year 18 American
                      soldiers were killed in a firefight in Somalia.
                           "It was awful," Mr. Clinton said. "It was a dark day."
                           Mr. Clinton downplayed speculation that first lady Hillary
                      Rodham Clinton, senator-elect from New York, is destined
                      to run for president.
                           "That's, you know, worse than idle speculation," Mr.
                      Clinton said.
                           "What I've urged her to do is, No. 1, solidify her roots
                      and her ties with the people of New York state; have an
                      agenda for New York; have an agenda for America, because
                      every senator is a senator on American issues, too; stay on
                      the forefront of ideas; keep pushing and getting things done,
                      and, you know, the future will take care of itself."
                           As for his own future, Mr. Clinton said he will not run for
                      mayor of New York, governor of New York or governor of
                      Arkansas.
                           "I think it's very important that first of all, I need to take a
                      couple of months and just go down. I need some rest. I've
                      been working like crazy for 27 years," he said.
                           Mr. Clinton said he then wants to make some money.
                           "I gotta support my family," Mr. Clinton said. "I want to
                      try to save some so they'll be all right if anything happens to
                      me."