Edwards, who has patterned his campaign after Clinton's 1992 race, even appropriating some of Clinton's language, said, "I am tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our country's history."
And Kerry, speaking before Clinton, took notice of the former president's propensity for lengthy speeches at public gatherings, a propensity that Kerry shares.
"I saw in the program that Bill Clinton is going to speak for about 20 minutes," he said. "And in that 20 minutes, if that's what you believe it is, he's going to deliver more common sense and more sense of the country than George Bush has in two and a half years."
Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless.
Wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots, and appearing thinner then he had at any point in the White House, Clinton took the stage to the sound of his 1992 campaign theme song, Don't Stop [Thinking about Tomorrow] by Fleetwood Mac. And when he was done, Clinton did as Clinton always does at these kinds of events: He stayed behind to shake every hand he could find, lingering for nearly an hour as the Iowa sky turned dark behind him.
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