Clinton Casts Long Shadow Over Candidates

WASHINGTON - Faster than you can say Monica Lewinsky, Democratic presidential candidates are embracing former President Clinton (news - web sites) and his economic record. They are just as quick to second-guess Al Gore (news - web sites) for running from his sex scandal-plagued boss in 2000.

"I don't know why he did that because I never ran away from Clinton," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said in a telephone interview Thursday between campaign stops in Concord, N.H. "Despite Clinton's problems in the second term, he was the best strategist the White House has seen since Franklin Roosevelt."

Once shunned by his vice president and some Democrats for lying about his affair with Lewinsky, who was a White House intern, the nation's 42nd president has transformed himself into a youthful party elder: adviser, mediator and uber-strategist urging tough stands against the White House.

He is the man for all candidates, a living example of how to defeat a president named Bush with a weak economy.

"I worked with the president to reduce the deficit ... and I respect the choices he made to help create 23 million jobs and low inflation and low unemployment. The president did a terrific job and the country has a sense of that," Sen. John Kerry (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts said while campaigning in Iowa.

Along with Kerry and Dean, Rep. Dick Gephardt (news - web sites) and Sens. John Edwards, Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) and Bob Graham talk about once a month with the former president.

In the conversations, as related by the candidates and their aides, Clinton has:

_ Complained to Edwards about President Bush (news - web sites)'s plans for rebuilding Iraq (news - web sites), and suggested that Democrats press the issue. "It's not going right," the former president said.

_ Urged Lieberman to be tougher on Bush. In March, after delivering a speech to 16,000 students in Iowa that was mildly critical of Bush's approach to Iraq, Clinton called the cell phone of a Lieberman aide. He was returning the senator's call from earlier in the day. "Is he there?" Clinton asked.

Lieberman, who was campaigning in Clinton's home state of New York, took the telephone — and for the next several minutes, he listened to Clinton dissect the speech.

When Dean and Kerry tangled during a South Carolina debate, Clinton publicly urged Democratic candidates to stop bickering. In the next multicandidate forum, the Democratic field laid off the infighting, and attacked Bush's anti-terrorism policies.

Clinton has complained to at least one candidate that the Democratic nomination process threatens to "diminish our nominee" by forcing candidates through a wringer of special interest demands and litmus tests.

One candidate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that kind of thinking is behind the Democratic Party's fledgling effort to limit and coordinate debates being sought by dozens of constituency groups.

The former president isn't the only Clinton being courted. Dean said he has talked to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) about health care. Edwards slipped her an advanced copy of his education address.

The Clintons' high public profile could hurt the Democratic field, if only by stealing attention from the campaign. She will soon release a long-awaited memoir, and he may to publish a book shortly before the election.

The loquacious Clinton raised eyebrows Wednesday when he called for a constitutional amendment allowing the next two-term president to reclaim his office.

"It's very difficult for (Democratic candidates) to ignore him, because he's attempting to make himself a presence," said Rep. Christopher Cox (news, bio, voting record) of California, a member of the House GOP leadership.

Associates say Clinton has no intention of taking sides in the primary campaigns — at least until there is a presumptive nominee, when he might urge any die-hard rivals to quit the race and unite against Bush.

For now, Clinton must be happy with what he hears because nearly every candidate mentions his presidency on the stump. The context is almost exclusively the economy — his record vs. Bush's.

"It's a real contrast. It's a natural story to tell," Gephardt said in an interview from Los Angeles. "There's also a contrast in the way he did foreign policy; he was very engaged in the world, solving problems in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia, the Middle East and North Korea (news - web sites). "

The candidates pledge to embrace Clinton, even in the general election. "I think somebody should have had (Clinton) speaking up in 2000," Kerry said.

"When Gore was running, the Clinton administration was clouded by the Lewinsky trouble," said Ken Cheuvront, a moderate state senator from Arizona. "Three years later, people remember the Clinton years as being a time of prosperity and peace. A bit more pleasant."

"I don't know why he did that because I never ran away from Clinton," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said in a telephone interview Thursday between campaign stops in Concord, N.H.

Of course this is from the governor of the state that allows sexual deviants to pretend that they are normal. Of course he'd never run from another sex fiend.

He is the man for all candidates, a living example of how to defeat a president named Bush with a weak economy.

So if he was able to beat President Bush by himself (while never having a majority) why was Ross Perot so important to the clinton campaigns?

"He's an asset to this party." (John Kerry)

I know that they pronounce things differently in Mass. but where did the extra 'et' come from? Do they do that to other curse words also?

I can hear the conversation now. "It's not going right. This Bush guy is doing everything so that he'll have a lasting legacy. A legacy that should have been mine! I arranged for the terrorists to attack us. Why did they have to wait until I was out of office. Those d**n arabs never get anything right! Waaa Waaa Waaa"

His impact is already being felt.

All the democrat candidates are now being laughed at more openly and easily

Translated "Heaven help us if the people really knew what we were planning to do. We'd never get near D.C. let alone the White House"

"There's also a contrast in the way he did foreign policy; he was very engaged in the world, solving problems in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia, the Middle East and North Korea (news - web sites). "

He solved all sorts of personal criminal activity problems using foreaign policy. As contrasted to President Bush who solves America's problems in his foreign policy

In fairness to Gore, Democrats say Clinton's political baggage has lightened.

These guys really are delusional aren't they? There's a whole room full of evidence to be publicized yet whenever one of these bozos embraces clinton. They thought that the FBI files gave them an advantage? Wait till they see what we can do.

Three years later people are still wishing that either or both clintons would return to under the rock they crawled out from. Three years later people still remember clinton as the pile of dog sh!t between the Bushes.

So of course the more clinton rears his ugly head the better off we'll all be in the long run. We just have to watch for and protect against massive vote fraud. The Pubbies need to implement positive picture ID in order to vote and picture id included on the voter rolls. That way we can check that said voter is who he says he is and that who he says he is, is actually registered to vote. I'd also go for fingerprinting all voters once we get the technology in place to accurately and quickly match the prints.

--Two simple reasons why the Republicans won.--

1) The DNC and the Clinton King and Queen were effectively told by the American people....

WERE NOT GONNA TAKE,NO! WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT...ANYMORE

NO MORE LIES, HATRED, CORRUPTION AND EMBARRASMENT!!!
LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCE IN THE TWO PARTIES AND IT IS A NO-BRAINER AS TO WHY THE DNC LOST!

2)

THE RNC WEB PAGE

THE DNC WEB PAGE

THE DIFFERENCE IS APPARENT...THE RNC HAS CLASS AND MORALS AND AN AGENDA THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT. THE DNC ARE A BUNCH OF CHILDISH, WHINY LOSERS, THAT DO NOTHING BUT BASH OTHERS ON THEIR WEB PAGE!

AMERICA WISED UP AND BOUGHT A HUMONGOUS CONTAINER OF DRAINO AFTER CUTTING THROUGH THE DEMS ~~PLUMB~~ SNOW JOB WITH CHAIN SAWS. THE $HIT HAS BEEN ALL CLEARED!

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1) The DNC and the Clinton King and Queen were effectively told by the American people....

WERE NOT GONNA TAKE,NO! WERE NOT GONNA TAKE IT...ANYMORE

2)

THE RNC WEB PAGE

THE DNC WEB PAGE

AMERICA WISED UP AND BOUGHT A HUMONGOUS CONTAINER OF DRAINO AFTER CUTTING THROUGH THE DEMS PLUMB SNOW JOB WITH CHAIN SAWS. THE $HIT HAS BEEN ALL CLEARED!