WASHINGTON - A senior Republican senator hit back yesterday at Sen. Hillary Clinton's comments that the GOP cannot cleanse itself from a history of exploiting race by ditching Sen. Trent Lott as majority leader.

"I happen to like Hillary Clinton ... but that was as race-baiting as anything I know," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The attitude is that only Democrats care about minorities. That's pure B.S.," Hatch told ABC's "This Week."

Clinton (D-N.Y.) opened a new front Friday when she said anyone who thinks "that one person stepping down from a leadership position cleanses the Republican Party of their constant exploitation of race" is "naive."

Clinton plans to call on Hatch as early as today to probe any alleged efforts to keep blacks from voting.

-- Anonymous, December 23, 2002