Published: March 25, 2008 03:09 pm         

Bill campaigns for Hillary in Kentucky

Says she's the best and most experienced candidate

FRANKFORT, Ky. — He’s still got rock star status among Kentucky Democrats – former President Bill Clinton proved that Tuesday before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 3,500 in the Frankfort Convention Center.



He was there to campaign for his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who is battling Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic Party nomination for president. And his appearance – she’s scheduled to visit Kentucky soon – underscores the unusual importance of the late Kentucky primary on May 20 in a tight race that Obama leads.



After former Gov. Julian Carroll, House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, and House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, revved up an already enthusiastic crowd, Clinton took the microphone and walked back and forth before a huge American flag, comparing the prosperity of the 90s when he was in the White House with current economic conditions. A woman in the crowd called out: “We’re not done.”



“Yeah, we’re not done yet – you bet we’re not done yet,” said a smiling Clinton referring to Obama’s lead among chosen delegates and most pundits’ belief that he has the inside track on a nomination once viewed as inevitably Mrs. Clinton’s.



But pundits and delegate counts don’t faze Terry McBrayer, the Greenup native, lawyer, lobbyist and a super delegate to the Democratic convention who has known both Clintons for years.



“I’ve supported candidates who’ve had less chance than this and they ended up winning,” McBrayer said. He said critics who worry Mrs. Clinton’s dogged campaign to overtake Obama will divide the party are wrong.



“I say fight it out,” said McBrayer, who is committed to Clinton. “That’s what democracy is all about. This is not in-fighting. This is just a skirmish.”



McBrayer blew off suggestions that Sen. Clinton’s remarks about flying into Bosnia “under fire” which news accounts at the time, including video footage, contradict.



“That was 12 years ago. Who can remember every detail from that long ago?”



The former president seemed to be enjoying the fight. He never mentioned Obama other than to refer to “the opposing campaign,” but said over and again that she is the best – the best choice for commander-in-chief, the “single best change maker I’ve ever known in other people’s lives,” and the most experienced candidate, at one point contending most military leaders support her over Obama and Vietnam war hero, prisoner of war and fighter pilot John McCain, the certain Republican nominee.



But before Clinton pushed his wife’s candidacy he wanted “to go down memory lane.” He reeled off economic statistics of high employment, home ownership, and budget surpluses during his administration and promised his wife would return the country to prosperity.



“We miss you!” a woman’s voice called out from the crowd, causing Clinton to smile broadly.



“If you want more financial responsibility and go back to balanced budgets, Hillary is your candidate,” Clinton said to applause. He talked of electric, hybrid cars which get 100 miles to the gallon and said his wife will fund research into such technology and clean coal fuels.



He said she will bring universal access and affordable health care to the country, contending that without universal coverage costs can’t be contained.



“You can’t solve the cost problem until you deal with the moral problem of covering everybody,” the former president said. And that, Clinton said, is the central difference between Hillary Clinton and her opponents. He said she will make college education affordable by providing low interest government loans and allowing graduates to repay some loans through service.



Hillary Clinton, her husband said, “strongly believes it's time to bring our soldiers home” from Iraq and will begin doing so within 60 days of her inauguration. Sen. Clinton voted for the resolution authorizing the war in Iraq, a vote which Obama has used to distinguish his candidacy from hers.



Before Clinton spoke, he met with various legislators and party officials. Rep. Hubert Collins, D-Whitinsville, had his picture taken with the former president. And Clinton apparently tried to get Gov. Steve Beshear’s endorsement for his wife before the event, but Beshear remained uncommitted, according to his communications director Dick Brown.



Before Clinton took center stage, Carroll told the crowd he’d known both Clintons since he was governor in the late 1970s.



“I have come here to give my personal endorsement for Hillary Clinton, the next Democratic president of the United States,” he told the cheering crowd which included a number of state employees and elected officials.



Adkins recalled the “pretty good times” of Bill Clinton’s presidency and told the crowd, “When you unite behind Hillary Clinton, we will have those good times again.”



After the speech, Clinton stayed and worked a line of star-struck fans, shaking hands and speaking to each. He was scheduled to visit Paris, Maysville and Morehead Tuesday afternoon.



Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.