Des Moines Register: Stumping for wife, Clinton can help, or hurt, anybody

[DeepModem Mom]

Stumping for wife, Clinton can help, or hurt, anybody
By THOMAS BEAUMONT • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • November 25, 2007

Bill Clinton will get his chance in the Iowa caucuses after all. The Democrat who skipped campaigning in the state during his own bid for the presidential nomination is stepping up his role as chief advocate for his wife, Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, her leading opponents for the Democrats' nomination subtly but persistently point out the former president's failures for which they say the New York senator shares responsibility.

Bill Clinton's shadow over the 2008 nominating race creates potential pitfalls for his wife and for her opponents. Hillary Clinton risks being seen as something other than her own candidate, while her opponents risk offending Iowa Democrats who revere the former president. "I think it's going to come down to: Do you really want Bill Clinton back in the White House?" said Donna Brazile, who ran Democrat Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. Held at arm's length by Gore in 2000 and embraced by the Democratic field in 2004, Bill Clinton's record is the subject of both credit and critique in the 2008 campaign.

He plans to make his fourth Iowa campaign trip for his wife this week, in eastern Iowa. On his third trip to Iowa this year, the former president tied his wife's vision with his own, while alluding to his administration's successes....

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Bill Clinton campaigned little for the Iowa caucuses in 1992 because U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa was also a candidate for president. But the former president has shouldered an increasingly public campaign role for his wife this year, first working to soften her image and recently taking the role as her chief policy advocate. A recent CBS/New York Times poll showed his presence in his wife's campaign to be an advantage in Iowa, although most caucusgoers say they are unaffected by it. In the survey, taken this month, 38 percent said Bill Clinton's involvement in Hillary Clinton's campaign made them more likely to support her, compared with 55 percent who said it made no difference, and 7 percent who said it made them less likely to support her....

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The mixed reception of the Clinton White House is a far cry from four years ago, when the Democratic presidential candidates regularly cited the budget surplus, job growth and relative global peace the Clinton administration left behind after eight years in office. "Isn't it weird, that four years ago they were campaigning on all the good that happened when we had a Democrat in the White House, and today they are regretting things that did or didn't happen because we had a Democrat in the White House," said Brazile, who is unaffiliated with any of the 2008 campaigns. "You can't have it both ways."

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