Mr. Clinton’s efforts to help Mr. Kerry are fraught with risks, Democratic strategists say, including the danger of arousing the legions of Clinton-haters, the possibility of upstaging the candidate himself, and campaign finance rules restricting publicity expenditures around an election. For months, Democratic strategists have worried that if Mr. Clinton’s book appeared too close to the election, he could hog the limelight and upstage Mr. Kerry. In the last election, Vice President Al Gore sought to distance himself from Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail rather than risk association with the scandals surrounding his administration.
Christine Iversen, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, argued that Mr. Clinton’s popularity would prove as much of a liability for Mr. Kerry as an asset. “If Bill Clinton is the most energizing Democrat available, he is not on the ballot, and that is a problem,” she said.
Yes, it would be terrible to remind people of a time when the country was so peaceful and properous that we could afford to let a bunch of flaccid, hypocritical phonies gin up a bogus impeachment for fun and profit. And, needless to say, it’s always a mistake to have interesting, charismatic popular people supporting you publicly and making the case for your candidacy all over the country. Silly Kerry.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to get these anonymous “Democratic strategists” to recognize that Clinton was a very popular Democrat who has a remarkable ability to charm even people who hate him. It’s only when they let the Republicans caricature him that Clinton hating gets any traction. I would bet money that he’ll bring about a national wave of nostalgia for a time when watching him dodge the slings and arrows of Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich was the only war we saw on America’s news channels every night. Jesus, if the GOP were such nervous nellies as this they’d have dropped Reagans body off the Santa Monica pier at midnight and said the family wanted a private service.
Oh, and Republicans really should be careful about talking about “sex” and scandals in this campaign. They really should. The pictures of the Bush approved “frat boy hijinks” they are trying so hard to sweep under the rug are a lot fresher than Bill and Monica in that rope line.