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Obama leaning heavily on Bill Clinton for election help
By: cnn.comPosted On: 07/14/2010 1:47 P
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Facing a bruising midterm election in less than four months, President Barack Obama's aides are putting together an aggressive schedule to deploy former President Bill Clinton at campaign and fundraising events in key states around the country, according to Democratic officials familiar with the plans.
Facing a bruising midterm election in less than four months, President Barack Obama's aides are putting together an aggressive schedule to deploy former President Bill Clinton at campaign and fundraising events in key states around the country, according to Democratic officials familiar with the plans.
"It's a no-brainer you would use one of the most talented politicians the country has ever had," said one Democratic official familiar with the discussions. "There are few as good at laying out the contrast with Republicans."
There has been speculation Clinton might not be used that frequently because of lingering frostiness between the two presidents dating to the divisive days of the 2008 campaign. But the two camps tried to put any such tension to rest in recent weeks at a quiet White House meeting between Clinton aide Doug Band and White House Political Director Patrick Gaspard, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
Sources said Band and Gaspard met right after the former president's surprise decision in late June to buck Obama and endorse former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in a hotly-contested U.S. Senate primary. Obama had already endorsed incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary and only learned of Clinton's move after-the-fact.
When Robert Gibbs was asked at the time if the White House would like to be notified of such an endorsement earlier in the process, the press secretary responded, "Before you guys? Sure."
In addition to smoothing things over at the White House meeting, Democratic officials told CNN the Clinton and Obama teams mapped out an ambitious schedule to get Clinton on the campaign trail as often as possible in between his foreign travels to such hot spots as Haiti.
"We want whatever we can get from him," said one of the senior Democratic officials involved in the conversations.
Democratic officials told CNN the White House specifically wants to use Clinton in key swing states where Obama is not particularly popular, such as Arkansas and Kentucky. In his home state of Arkansas, Clinton already helped Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln survive an intense primary challenge earlier this year and will now be used to help save the incumbent in an even tougher general election match-up with Republican John Boozman.
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