New York ? Jeanine Pirro, a street-smart and media-savvy Republican prosecutor, launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, insisting that incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to use the state as a “doormat to the White House.”

“New York deserves a senator who has New York’s interests at heart,” Pirro said. “Not the divided loyalties of one seeking to satisfy the needs of people in Iowa, New Hampshire or Florida.

“You can’t run for two offices at once,” she said.

Pirro’s entry into the race promises a fierce battle in 2006. She is a well-regarded, three-term district attorney in suburban Westchester County with a telegenic smile and rapier wit. And polls suggest that although Clinton is a popular senator, a majority of New Yorkers prefer she forgo a much-rumored White House run in 2008.