Geraldine Ferraro, the Forest Hills Gardens housewife-turned-vice-presidential-candidate-turned-political-talk-show-host, is back in the political trenches.

While many will remember Ferraro as the first woman on a national election ticket - Walter Mondale’s running mate in his failed bid for the U.S. Presidency in 1984 - others will remember her as a three-term Queens congresswoman. Others will remember her as housewife who attended law school at night while raising children, to become a Queens assistant district attorney and founder of the DA’s Special Victims Bureau, supervising the prosecution of sex offenders.

Earlier this month, Ferraro, who for the last three years has hosted CNN’s "Crossfire," entered the race for Republican Al D’Amato’s U.S. Senate seat, up for election in November.

Following her declaration to run - after six years away from elected office - Ferraro immediately became the front-runner over two other Democratic hopefuls: New York City Public Advocate Mark Green from Manhattan, and Congressman Charles Schumer, whose district is split between Brooklyn and Queens.

According to Quinnipiac College poll taken last month among 1,048 New Yorkers, 48 percent of the people surveyed said that they would vote for Ferraro if the Democratic primary election were held that day, compared with 25 percent for Green and 12 percent for Schumer. Only four days after announcing her candidacy, she had already raised $1.1 million, according to the Ferraro camp.

But whoever wins the Democratic nod will face a tough race against incumbent D’Amato. Ferraro has been down that road: in her challenge to D’Amato six years ago, Ferraro watched her lead evaporate in the face of attacks against her husband, realtor John Zaccaro, by fellow Democratic contenders Robert Abrams and Liz Holtzman, which ultimately disintegrated all three campaigns, and helped D’Amato win re-election.

QT: What can Geraldine Ferraro do for New York City and for Queens as a U.S. Senator?

Ferraro: It’s not only New York City and Queens, but it’s New York State. It’s taking a close look at the issues that are of concern to us here in the city, and I think the main issues are education, health care and a continuing economy that provides job opportunities for not only Wall Street, which we have going, but for middle-class working people and for kids coming out of school. Basically, those are the issues that I will be focusing on in the campaign, and those are the issues that I’ll be focusing on when I go down to the Senate.

If you take a close look at my record when I was a member of Congress representing the 9th Congressional District in Queens, we provided probably the best constituent service, I think, at that time of any office in Queens County, and maybe of any office in the city or the state.

People are concerned about the fact that Al D’Amato has provided that constituent service and they’re worried that they might lose that. I don’t think they have to worry and I think my record shows they don’t have to worry if I get elected. So, we’ll be providing for people of Queens, people of the city, people of the state on a legislative level as well as on a constituent service level. The problem with D’Amato is that he’s only provided on a constituent service level. He’s failed to provide on a national level the kind of leadership we need for us to not only have our voices heard, but also to provide a response to the federal government on the needs of the state.

QT: You’ve been out of the political life since 1992 while your opponents have been in the political forefront. Do you think that’s an asset or a liability to your campaign?

Ferraro: I have been out of elective office - the taxpayer has not been paying for me to do the things I’ve been doing for the last six years - but I’ve never been out of a position where I have failed to speak up against inequity ... I spent four years as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The work I did there, it’s interesting, it’s unknown to a lot of people. When I was down at the Commission the first year, they asked me what my view of it was ... and I said it’s the best-kept secret in the world. People don’t know the work that’s done - people don’t know about the lives that are saved with the leadership of the United States.

I have difficulty comprehending what the negative is about being out of political office. Most people in the real world consider their jobs very valuable, consider their experiences very valuable. While I was not in office for the last six years ... I have been debating the issues that are facing this country on national television with members of Congress.

QT: You requested that your opponents sign a pledge to refrain from personal attacks during the campaign. So far, from your point of view, has your request been honored?

Ferraro: No, and it’s interesting to see the response of the media, thinking [the request] is so outrageous ... We got an agreement in 1992 that there would not be negative attacks ... You saw at the end of the campaign, the personal attacks started. It’s not only Gerri Ferraro who wants a definite statement that this will not happen again ... The only thing we were successful in doing [in 1992] was re-electing D’Amato ... I’ve been there, done that. I’ve seen what Democrats can do to each other.

QT: While your opponents have been given the lion’s share of the blame for the self-destructive 1992 Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate, what did you learn from the experience?

Ferraro: To make sure I get a commitment that it would not be repeated. There’s an old saying, if you make a fool of me once, shame on you. If you make a fool of me twice, shame on me ... I am more than anxious to discuss why I would be a better senator than my opponents. I just want to make sure that we’re talking about ability to be effective and our work experience.

QT: Some of the pundits have tagged you a liberal. Do you agree with that assessment?

Ferraro: I go from being too liberal to not [being] liberal enough, depending upon where they’re coming from in the political spectrum. It’s interesting that the conservatives think of me as too liberal and the liberals think of me as too conservative, which means that I’m probably right square in the center.