Tuesday, June 5, 2007

NY Daily News: She Thinks Congress May Need a 'Nanny' by Nicholas Hirshon...

The star of "The Nanny" wouldn't mind playing the title role in "The Representative" someday - but right now she's too busy telling women about the importance of early cancer detection.

Fran Drescher yesterday admitted she's interested in running for elected office, though she won't be announcing a 2008 congressional run tomorrow during a cancer survivors celebration in Lake Success.

"I do see myself getting involved in politics in that way down the road, becoming an elected official, but right now the big thing I'm climbing is the 'Cancer Schmancer Movement,'" the Queens-born star told the Daily News.

Appearing tomorrow afternoon at the North-Shore LIJ Cancer Center, the liberal-leaning actress will give a keynote lecture about her 2000 diagnosis with uterine cancer and her successful struggle against the disease.

But her appearance in front of a positive audience on Long Island fueled speculation she might also announce a run against Republican Rep. Peter King.

"If she's going in 2008 and she's going after King's seat, you do it at an event in King's district," said Baruch College Prof. Doug Muzzio, a political expert. "You declare war on enemy turf."

Drescher denied the possibility of such an announcement, even if she has thought about having a career in Washington down the line.

"If I had my druthers, I'd rather be a senator" than a representative, she said. "But that doesn't mean that's necessarily where I'd start."

Drescher already has a fan in Dr. Vincent Vinciguerra, the chief of North Shore-LIJ's division of oncology and hematology, who figured that as an elected official, the 39-year-old actress could get funds for cancer research.

"If she is interested and she gets elected, that would be wonderful," he said.

But Drescher stressed she wouldn't be a one-issue candidate - arts, the environment and public education are also on her agenda.

"For the moment, I'm really putting all my eggs in one basket, which you really can't do when you're representing all the people," she said.

Ellen Simon, a 57-year-old leukemia survivor who is planning to attend tomorrow's event, said she hopes to speak to Drescher after her lecture.

"I'm all excited that she's coming," said Simon, who lives in Bayside, Queens. "I know just what she went through."