Former US president Bill Clinton, who is due to return to the campaign trail on behalf of presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry after major heart surgery, said on Sunday the choice between Kerry and US President George W. Bush was "profound."
Clinton was due to hit the campaign trail on behalf of his fellow Democrat yesterday and attend a rally in Philadelphia, in the showdown state of Pennsylvania just six weeks after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Clinton played down concerns about his recovery.
Asked if he was taking a risk, Clinton replied: "No I don't think so ... I think it's [the election] important and because the differences between the two candidates and the courses they will pursue in the next four years are so profound."
"I'm going out tomorrow [yesterday] ... I talked to my doctors about it and they made some very helpful suggestions," Clinton said, adding he was also hitting the stump because the race was so closely tied.
Democrats hailed their former leader's return to the campaign.
"President Clinton has enormous standing with the base of the Democratic party. He will energize it. He has incredible numbers, almost unbelievable numbers with African-Americans for example. So I think he will bring enormous energy to the Democratic Party base," Kerry adviser Tad Devine told Fox television.
But White House communications director Dan Bartlett dismissed Clinton's potential effect on the campaign.
"The fact that John Kerry's going to have to roll him off the surgery table and onto the campaign trail demonstrates a revealing aspect, that he's under-performing in key parts of his own constituency," Bartlett told Fox.
Clinton, 58, has been recuperating at his home in Chappaqua, New York, since undergoing surgery, limiting his campaign contributions to written statements and advice offered over the telephone.
Since leaving office, Clinton has continued as a force in the Democratic party and, despite the sex scandal that led to his impeachment, he remains a hugely popular figure in US politics.
He drew thousands of people on a book tour earlier this year to promote his best-selling autobiography My Life, and was widely seen as the star of the show at July's Democratic National Convention, overshadowing Kerry with a speech that electrified the party faithful.
A seasoned and extremely effective campaigner, Clinton was controversially kept away from the stump in 2000 by Al Gore, who believed his scandal-tarnished former boss would be a liability.
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