When Bill Clinton joins his wife for their first major joint campaign appearances tomorrow, the former president is planning to play the role of "biographer in chief," telling "the story" of
Sen. Hillary Rodham 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 in
Iowa is expected to draw a media crush, dominating the holiday week news even as a handful of other presidential contenders campaign around the state. Clinton officials describe the former president's participation as an obvious next step for the campaign, given that Iowa is the key primary battlefield where Clinton (D-N.Y.) is so far faring the worst.
The joint trip also brings challenges -- and potential openings -- for Clinton's rivals. Already,
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has questioned whether the former first lady can claim experience in the Oval Office based on her husband's terms in office. Highly popular among Democratic loyalists, the former president has a tendency to overshadow his wife in public.
And, as always, introducing the good Clinton in public hazards reminding voters of the bad, particularly his affair with a
White House intern and subsequent impeachment by the House nearly a decade ago.
Sen. Clinton has concluded that the risk is worth the reward: She increasingly invokes her husband's record and refers nostalgically to the 1990s in her speeches, citing his foundation work in statements about her own foreign policy agenda and referring to his presidency as the "last Clinton administration."
Her husband is expected take a somewhat different approach in the next week. Clinton advisers have scripted a role for the former president that focuses squarely on the candidate, not himself. During a handful of rallies -- or, as they are being called, "Ready for Change, Ready to Lead" events -- in Iowa, he is, advisers said, planning to walk listeners through his wife's biography, particularly her work in children's advocacy as first lady of
Arkansas, on behalf of women as first lady, and as a senator for the past 6 1/2 years......
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