The Irony of Clinton Stumping for Kerry

[HoopsCubs]

It is rumoured that former President Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Kerry/Edwards exclusively in Arkansas and the Tampa/Orlando corridor during the final month of the campaign.

For right or wrong, most Democrat strategists believe Arkansas and Florida can be won with heavy voter turnout, a clear economic message, a promise of health care reform and repeated Clinton sightings.

A couple of folks I talked to in Washington over the weekend believe that the Kerry electoral strategy now has two prongs: the old path is to keep the Gore states and win either Ohio, Missouri or Florida.  Many polls show Kerry even or ahead in all 3 states.   The new path  clearly centers on winning a 10 EV combo of Arkansas, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nevada, and then keeping all the Gore states.          

Most agree Clinton could have a big hand in delivering Arkansas to Kerry.  Without Clinton, no chance.  And most agree that Nevada and West Virginia still remain long shots.

Therefore, the gist of path two distills down to winning NH and AR.  And that's the irony.  If Kerry wins NH as many expect, and Clinton delivers Arkansas as some hope which would lead to Kerry victory, Clinton has effectively torpedoed his wife's presidential plans for 12-16 years.

Fasten your seat belts!  A turbulent 78 days ahead!


Hoops

[Fritz]

Maybe the Clintons really do want what's best for the party and for the country...not just whats best for Hillary's political career.

[The Dowager Mod]

Maybe hillary really isn't a crazy power hungry harpy.

[khirkhib]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't think that Hilary Clinton will ever run for president, not even enter the primary.  I would put money on it but if I bet against a conservative they would never pay me back. HC will be 86 years old and have never run and they'll say "Just wait, you'll see, she is waiting for the Sympothy she'll get when Bill passes away."

[A18]

If Kerry loses, she can't run because of Edwards. If Kerry won, she still couldn't run.

[bullmoose88]

She's gotta hope Kerry underperforms in the South. Then it would make Edwards look bad.

[raggage]

She's gotta hope Kerry underperforms in the South. Then it would make Edwards look bad.

Surely he doesn't actually hope that! I'm sure good old HRC would rather have Kerry in the Whitehouse than Dubya