New role for former president
When Bill Clinton joins his wife in Iowa today for their first major campaign appearances together in her presidential campaign, the former president plans to play the role of "biographer in chief," telling the story of Senator Hillary Clinton -- and directing some of his high-wattage charisma toward her.
But can the former president keep from stealing the show?
The extraordinary sight of the two Clintons on the stump is expected to draw a media crush. Clinton officials describe the former president's participation as an obvious next step for the campaign because Iowa is the key primary battlefield where the New York senator is so far faring the worst.
The joint trip gives some potential openings to Clinton's rivals. Already, Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has questioned whether the former first lady can claim experience in the Oval Office based on her husband's service.
Highly popular among Democratic loyalists, the former president has a tendency to overshadow his wife in public. Senator Clinton has concluded that the risk is worth the reward: She invokes her husband's record, refers nostalgically to the 1990s in her speeches, and refers to his presidency as the "last Clinton administration."
Clinton advisers have scripted a role for the former president that focuses squarely on the candidate, not himself.
"He's going to talk about her, and she's going to talk about the country," one Clinton official said. (
The Senate had voted to allow the bill to move forward.
"Senator Brownback voted in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed to the immigration bill today," read the e-mail. "That means he voted to bring the bill back to the floor for debate . . . this does not mean that Senator Brownback supports the immigration bill itself."
The problem was that instead of sending carbon copies, the Brownback staffer put all the names in the "To" field -- meaning that everyone's e-mail address was visible to everyone else. An e-mail barrage ensued with a number of people replying to the full list with criticisms of Brownback. The campaign apologized -- in separate e-mails. (Washington Post)
