Democrats call in Clinton to rescue Kerry's campaign
(Filed: 30/05/2004)
Candidate's advisers invite former president to bolster senator's
lacklustre White House bid. Julian Coman reports from Washington
Top advisers to the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, have
asked Bill Clinton to play a starring role in the final months of the
Massachusetts senator's campaign.
Four years ago, in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the former
vice-president Al Gore distanced himself from Mr Clinton, during his
race against George W Bush. But after heated internal discussions, the
Kerry camp has decided that Mr Clinton's personal charisma is needed to
bolster the appeal of Sen Kerry, who has been accused of running a
lacklustre campaign and failing to take advantage of President Bush's
problems in Iraq.
"There has been talk about the danger of Bill Clinton overshadowing
John," said a senior Democrat last week, "but the decision has been
taken to accept him as being centre stage and hope that some of the
magic rubs off".
Although polls indicate that President Bush is suffering from the
fall-out of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the on-going insurgency in
Iraq, Mr Kerry has been criticised for failing to impose himself on the
presidential race. His dry manner is also worrying Democrat supporters.
"I've never heard him tell a joke," said one campaign worker at a Kerry
fund-raising party last week.
"I've never seen him look as if he was genuinely enjoying himself. He
just needs to come across as more human. If Clinton can help with that,
then we sure need that help."
Harold Ickes, the senior political strategist in the Kerry team,
contacted Mr Clinton this month to discuss ways in which the former
president's political skills can be used in the coming months.
It has been agreed that he will make a leading speech at the Democratic
Convention in Boston at the end of July, despite the fears of some
Democrats that Mr Clinton could upstage the presumptive nominee.
"There will be members of the Kerry staff and the advisory council who
will say that Kerry may be overshadowed by Clinton speaking," said Mr
Ickes. "But I think that at the convention, as much as Democrats love
Bill Clinton, they are going to be very much focused on their nominee
and they will give him a huge send off."
The former New York governor, Mario Cuomo, still an influential figure
in Democrat politics, has also advised Mr Kerry to exploit the Clinton
factor.
"Whatever you can do to use Bill and Hillary, big time, use them. The
sun that makes your plants grow and makes everybody strong and gives
life to the world is so big that when it shows up everybody tends to
notice it. So what? What do you get from the sun? You get nourishment.
You get life."
Sen Kerry's foreign policy team is staffed largely by luminaries from
the Clinton administration, including Madeleine Albright, Samuel Berger,
William Perry and Richard Holbrooke. The Clintons have also offered
frequent advice on campaign strategy and tactics. It was at Mr Clinton's
instigation that a "war room" was set up at the Kerry campaign
headquarters, designed for rapid response to Republican attacks.
For the most part however, support for Mr Kerry from the Clintons has
been discreet and behind the scenes. But last week, Mr Clinton gave his
most public message of support for Sen Kerry, dismissing criticisms of
his style and apparent unwillingness to confront President Bush on the
subject of Iraq.
"Sen Kerry has made quite clear what he believes about the major issues
in the news today," said Mr Clinton, "and I think he's shown a certain
reticence given the seriousness of the problems in the world today. I
like the way he's handling it."
The former president also denied that the publication of his
autobiography, My Life, on June 22, will steal the limelight from Sen
Kerry's campaign in the lead-up to the Democratic Convention.
"It will get a lot of ink and a lot of press coverage," he said, "But it
will not detract from anybody."
At the Kerry campaign headquarters in Washington, some aides are less
confident that their candidate can hold his own, if forced to share the
stage this summer with the biggest star of Democratic politics during
the past 25 years. "Al Gore made a mistake when he didn't use Clinton,"
said one campaign worker.
"John Kerry is not going to make that mistake. But he will need to be
very careful. How many Democrats are going to look at Bill during the
convention and think: he's still the best candidate we have."
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