Hillary Clinton lands on US 'Tough Guy' list
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-13 13:57

'Would you mess with her?'

Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. [CNN/file]

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been called many things, a savvy politician, a devoted wife. But Men's Journal magazine is adding one more description to that list: Tough Guy.

In its March issue, already on newsstands, the magazine publishes its annual list of "The 25 Toughest Guys in America" -- and Clinton weighs in at No. 25, just behind human crash test dummy Rusty Haight, who has been in 740 car wrecks.

It's the first time Men's Journal has put a woman on the list, senior editor Tom Foster said.

"I think just looking at what she's been through and what she represents, that sort of stood for itself," Foster said. "Would you mess with her?"

Foster referred to Clinton's handling of former President Clinton's sexual improprieties in the Oval Office. Hillary Clinton wrote about the pain caused by the president's affair with a White House intern and the subsequent impeachment effort in "Living History," her White House memoir.

Foster said Clinton's listing -- among athletes, martial artists, racers and wrestlers -- is not a lambasting. "I would think people would take it as a compliment," he said.

Clinton wasn't the only Washington figure on the magazine's Toughest Guys list, which was topped by Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Arizona Sen. John McCain was No. 5, and Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was No. 21, two places above rapper 50 Cent, who was shot nine times and drove himself to a hospital.

Telephone calls to the Democratic New York senator's office were not immediately returned Wednesday.