WANT A LITTLE preview of a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign? (Aside from the news that a new CNN poll indicates that nearly half of Americans would "definitely vote against" her.)

Just look at the hoopla over the recent Page 1 New York Times article that covered the kind of Clinton material usually reserved for the supermarket tabloids. The reporter even spoke to "some 50 people" to see how many days and nights a month the Clintons spend together. (It was 14, including 70 percent of weekends over the past 17 months. That's a lot of time together for such a busy couple.)

Despite valiant attempts by Hillary and Bill to leave their past behind, why does their intimate life - past, present and future - remain such a distraction? Why can't the press and public understand and respect their devotion, their determination to remain married, and leave their personal life alone?

Why isn't the curiosity silenced by the negative reaction to the Times article, summed up by one reader as "non-newsworthy" and "nothing to do with anything." Why should a woman as competent, hard-working, focused and ambitious as Sen. Clinton be tormented by an analysis of private matters that detracts from her quest to be the next president of our United States?

But the continuing fascination with the Clinton relationship is not primarily prurient and tawdry, though at first glance it might seem so. The relationship entices, unsettles, jolts and baffles because the expectation for so many people is that prominent political figures, especially one who has ascended to the presidency, will, by example, help lead us toward comfort, meaning, validation and direction in our own lives.

This isn't fair, of course, but we can't help thinking that way. Unfortunately, it's never going to change.

When the press looked into a long-time rumor that Bush '41 had a longtime mistress, the public was nonplussed. They accepted the broad outlines of the Barbara/ George relationship, and yawned.

But the Clintons come across as a human crossword puzzle with some impenetrable clues. So the public has refused to put the puzzle down until the solution is found. They really want to know how Hillary could forgive and trust Bill after her public humiliation. How she could write an autobiography that was a declaration of love and devotion to him? Could she really mean it?

Hillary insisted when the Gennifer Flowers story broke back in '92, that she was not a woman who merely stood by her man.

Yet this is exactly what she did and has always done - through Gennifer, through Monica, through it all. Her actions have always invited the question: Does she really love him, or is he just the means to her end?

And what does Bill get out of this? Why doesn't he, finally, leave her for one of the women he is frequently seen with? Why does he always seem to come home? Their devotion to Chelsea just doesn't shed enough light on this.

To understand the Clintons' unique union and its unending confusion is to understand that, for Bill and Hillary, there has never been a distinction between the personal and the professional.

Because Hillary's career has been so tied to Bill's behavior, you can't chastise the press for believing that his social life and history of infidelities are areas still worthy of examination.

Hillary's seeming passion for Bill has always been based on his ability to move forward politically - and take her with him. This is and has ever been the essence of their marital bed, personally and politically.

Hillary has the brains, the guts, the stamina. But she doesn't have his natural warmth, charisma, charm and appeal.

And he is devoted to her for her discipline and focus - her capacity for the hard work that she has always insisted on, for both of them. Without Hillary, Bill could very well have self-destructed, and most likely would never have become president. He'll come home as long as she will have him, for this reason, till death do them part.

Hillary paid an enormous price for the Lewinsky fiasco. But she also reaped wondrous rewards. For the first time in their public life, her pain brought her vast support and sympathy. More important, she could combine this genuine outpouring with her natural abilities and catapult herself into the Senate.

Now is the time for Hillary to face the full reality of her marriage and the "two for one" baggage that she and her husband will ever share. As long as Hillary is a presidential candidate, Clinton supporters will be praying that discretion will prevail. Their enemies will be on fierce and determined lookout (as they've always been) for yet another of Bill's shoes to fall. This makes everyone nervous.

Hillary's personal humiliation led to her Senate victory. A presidential candidacy is a completely different story. Hillary's potential humiliation could then become a political liability.

She does not need or deserve this fallout, and neither do we.