Bill Clinton, once known on the campaign trail as Elvis for his superstar, crowd-pleasing charms, will rise from his sickbed next week to come to John Kerry's aid, six weeks after a quadruple bypass operation.
Clinton's last-ditch intervention, starting on Monday in Philadelphia in a joint appearance with Kerry, comes in the face of resistance from his wife. Senator Hillary Clinton is concerned that the former president could endanger his health so soon after the operation.
"Hillary has been fighting this all along, but we'll get a few appearances," said a senior Democratic official who was involved in the negotiations over Clinton's participation. "He really wants to do this. He watches every detail of the race. He knows more about it than I do."
The charisma of the 58-year-old former president has made him a figure of adulation among the Democratic faithful, but his participation may be a double-edged sword.
He also galvanizes Conservatives, who hold him in contempt for the Monica Lewinsky scandal. For that reason, Al Gore did not call on his help four years ago -- a decision much criticized by Democratic activists.
A Kerry spokesman, Joe Lockhart, said Clinton, who has been convalescing at his home in Chappaqua, New York, will make several solo campaign stops in the course of next week, after his joint appearance with Kerry. Clinton's office in Harlem Wednesday issued a short statement saying he was "pleased to be able to help John Kerry in this very important campaign for the future of our country."
Clinton has also agreed to tape a message to be sent out to voters' home telephones, and he may also record a radio advertisement.
At a Tuesday night campaign event, Kerry said he had spoken by telephone to Clinton, who had encouraged him, arguing that White House "scare tactics" would backfire.
The White House is countering Clinton's imminent return by taking the unusual step of sending the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, out on the campaign trail.
It is an unprecedented step, since national security advisers do not normally take part in campaign politics, but the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, yesterday defended the decision, saying Rice had been invited to speak at a number of venues and had agreed to attend.
Clinton's reappearance on the political scene comes at a time when Kerry is running neck-and-neck with the president in some polls and trailing in others.
A tracking poll by the Washington Post and ABC television put George Bush five percentage points ahead, but it offered a spark of hope to Kerry. He is winning by 54 percent to 43 percent among first-time voters, which suggests that a high turnout on Nov. 2 will be in his favor.
The two rivals pressed on with their high-mileage campaigning yesterday, sniping at each other as they criss-crossed the midwest in search of crucial swing votes.
"This president likes to say he's a leader," Kerry told a rally in Iowa. "Mr President, look behind you. There's no one there. It's not leadership if no one follows."
Bush hit back by saying that his challenger was guilty of a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the so-called war on terror.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese