Hillary's $8m memoirs

Bill and Hillary pulled together on her Senate campaign

First Lady and New York senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed an $8m advance for her memoirs about her eight scandal-ridden years at the White House.

There has been a fierce bidding war for the Clinton book, even though it remains to be seen what Mrs Clinton is prepared to disclose.

Revelations about Monica are eagerly awaited

The advance finally agreed with publishers Simon & Schuster came close to matching the $8.5m that Pope John Paul II got for a non-fiction work.

The First Lady has indicated that she will write frankly about her husband's impeachment and his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Charity

How far she is prepared to go will determine how big a seller the book will be.

As she's closing out one chapter in her life and beginning another, she wants to share her experiences

Hillary Clinton's spokesman

Some watchdog groups have already raised concerns over the ethics of such a book but Mrs Clinton has already said she plans to give a portion of the money to charity.

The first lady is the first wife of an incumbent president to ever run for or win public office. She was elected to the Senate as New York's junior senator last month.

"Hillary has been privileged to live an extraordinary eight years in the White House and, as she's closing out one chapter in her life and beginning another, she wants to share her experiences," her spokesman Howard Wolfson said.

Mrs Clinton is not covered under Senate ethic rules until 3 January when she takes office and under those rules, book advances are not limited by restrictions on outside incomes.

But the New York Daily News has reported that Republican Senator John McCain is suggesting that the whole matter should be looked at by the Senate Ethics Committee.

The memoirs are expected to be published in 2003.

In 1989, President Ronald Reagan received more than $8m for a two-book deal.