Clinton Planning to Use Book Tour to Assist Kerry

As former President Bill Clinton prepares for a barrage of publicity and a cross-country tour to promote his memoirs, his political advisers are consulting with the Democratic Party and Senator John Kerry's campaign about ways that Mr. Clinton can lend a political hand in the process.

Mr. Clinton received an advance of more than $10 million to write his memoirs, "My Life," and aides to the former president say his first priority now is to sell as many books as possible. But they also say that whenever his book-selling obligations allow, Mr. Clinton is eager to pitch in for the party by plugging Mr. Kerry and subtly putting down Republicans at book-selling events, and by speaking at fund-raisers or campaign stops on his tour.

He is also going out of his way not to overshadow Mr. Kerry. For example, Democratic Party officials said Mr. Clinton was scheduled to speak on the first night of the party's convention in Boston, but executives of Knopf, which is publishing "My Life," said that to keep the spotlight on Mr. Kerry, he did not plan to hold a book signing or other event while in town.

"He wants to make sure that there is no way that anything he does is competing with or intruding on the attention paid to Senator Kerry," Steve Richetti, Mr. Clinton's top political adviser, said. "We have met with the campaign so that they can be aware of what we are doing and where we are going. He wants to be helpful in any way that he is asked. He knows John Kerry and he likes him a lot and thinks he would be a great president. At book events, I think he will be asked about and he will be able to talk about John Kerry in a very thoughtful and compelling way."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/14/politics/campaign/14CLIN.html?hp

I don't want him caught 'high and dry' during the Democratic Convention without a place to stay!

I'll even cook dinner for him...and, help him carry all of those books!

:D

I live around the corner (well, almost) from the Demo Convention, and I doubt I'll be able to get near the place..

Times rant:

"Mr. Clinton's efforts to help Mr. Kerry are fraught with risks, Democratic strategists say, including the danger of arousing the legions of Clinton-haters, the possibility of upstaging the candidate himself, and campaign finance rules restricting publicity expenditures around an election. For months, Democratic strategists have worried that if Mr. Clinton's book appeared too close to the election, he could hog the limelight and upstage Mr. Kerry. In the last election, Vice President Al Gore sought to distance himself from Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail rather than risk association with the scandals surrounding his administration."

..What Democratic strategists? Gore made the mistake of listening to Lieberman. Where is Liebermen now? While Bill's got the limelight, he 'should' promote Kerry!

.

with him helping Kerry we can't lose! :bounce:

If Kerry wants to win, he should wrap himself around Clinton's leg like a horny chihuahua and cling there for the next five months.

Clinton: star power, beloved, talismanic.

Kerry: boring, tolerated, take-or-leave.

Do the math, JK! You need the Big Dawg! Arf arf!

And Kerry is very proud to have Clinton's help in any shape form or fashion. It helps people make the comparison between a real President and Bush*. Bush* comes off very badly in comparison with either Clinton or Kerry.