Clinton Expected to Be At Fewer Kerry Events
Recuperation From Surgery Is Taking Time
By John F. Harris and Al Kamen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 17, 2004; Page A07


Former president Bill Clinton, whose recuperation from heart surgery last month has been slower than he anticipated, will not make more than a few cameo appearances on behalf of Democratic nominee John F. Kerry, and even an abbreviated schedule is far from certain, friends and Democratic officials said.

Clinton has been recuperating from his Sept. 6 quadruple bypass surgery at his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., with a recovery regimen that has included mile-long walks. He has completed the walks but finds himself exhausted after each jaunt, friends said, and he remains in considerable pain from the chest incision.

His continued fatigue, combined with recommendations of caution from his physicians, means that a frenetic sprint of last-minute campaigning -- the kind of barnstorming that was the 58-year-old Clinton's signature during his own campaigns -- is out of the question, friends said. Kerry officials had hoped that Clinton might spend some of the closing weeks of the campaign on the Democratic nominee's plane, appearing arm in arm at rallies in swing states.

Kerry and Clinton are still hopeful that he can fulfill a more modest schedule, say campaign aides and friends of the former president. This would presumably include a small number of appearances in the days ahead of the Nov. 2 election to encourage turnout -- most likely in venues with highly sympathetic crowds, such as African American churches -- in such pivotal states as Ohio and Florida.

While several longtime Clinton aides said they would be surprised if a longtime campaigner can be kept away from the crowds if Kerry wants him there, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said people should not make any assumptions. "He wants to do everything he can, but he may or may not," said McAuliffe, a Clinton friend who talks regularly with him.

At the time of Clinton's diagnosis and surgery on Sept. 6, many of his former advisers -- several of whom are working in senior positions with the Kerry campaign -- were full of predictions about the ease with which patients can return to their routine after modern heart surgery. But a procedure that had Clinton unconscious for eight hours -- during part of which his heart was stopped and his body kept alive with a heart-lung machine -- is serious, and heart experts have warned that full recovery can be slow.

Clinton does not need to be out and about to be helpful to Kerry. He does intend to tape "robo-calls" -- taped-recorded messages that play when someone answers the phone -- and may also be able to give interviews on Kerry's behalf.

Clinton talks frequently with members of the Kerry campaign, including occasional conversations with the nominee, aides to both said.

The surgery has also led aides to edit Clinton's schedule next month, two weeks after the election, when his presidential library will open with three days of events and festivities in Little Rock.

Clinton plans to leave Chappaqua for Arkansas soon, to continue his recuperation and work on final plans for the library opening. This will allow limited campaign events in Arkansas, though polls have Bush, who won the state comfortably in 2000, with a solid lead there. This is the second presidential election that has left Clinton bridling on the sidelines; in 2000, then-Vice President Al Gore spurned most of Clinton's offers to help on the campaign trail.

I think he is playing it low key because if Kerry wins Hillary is fucked for 4-8 more years. If Bush wins it would be Hillary against who ever the Republicans can come up with.

And exactly who that will be I would love to know, who can the Republicans run in the next election?

Quoted: And exactly who that will be I would love to know, who can the Republicans run in the next election?

I don't know, but they better be GOOD, ESPECIALLY in front of an audience, or Hillary will eat them for lunch.

I think the news reports have been pretty accurate. My dad had heart bypass surgery and it wiped him out for 4-5 months before he was "normal" again. I think Bill wants to, but the problem is he is not able to.

Don't think Bill is trying to slip out.  It's his ticker and the exhaustion that follows major surgery. His doctors are probably limiting his activities and so he's abiding by their orders.  Besides, it'll only be good for Hitlery so she can run in 2008.

Quoted: Clinton, all his faults aside, was always a master at positioning himself.....You could be right. But remember, the she-devil  would be just as happy if Kerry lost (in a way that couldn't be tired to her in any way). This would clear the path for her triumphal accension to the Presidency in 2008.

I've been saying all along that Hillary actually wants Bush to win this year so there will be an open seat in 2008 when she makes her run for the POTUS.  If Kerry wins, she will have to wait until 2012...and that's not her plan.

I really don't think Hillary is electable. She's out there on the tip of the left wing. God knows none of us can stand her, and I know quite a few Democrats who think she is fucking crazy. God help us if that bitch ever weasels her way into the White House.

They want Kerry to lose so the Witch can run in 2008.

CRC

Quoted: They want Kerry to lose so the Witch can run in 2008. CRC

GOOD!  Let the witch run!  We'll put Laura Bush on the Repub ticket!  

he's kept a low profile, hillary can't run against an incumbent democrat.
hpoefully bush will get back in. i want a colin powell, rudy julliani ticket.
if colin would run it would end the minorities blindly voting for democrats once and for all.
the democratic party would be over....i'm off subject.

NO! please go to more event Bill, do it for the childern. Man thats the way to lose an election is have this guy show up and indorse you, hey have ALGORE come out too

Wish those doctors would prescribe Big Macs and fries for the slickmeister to speed our his recovery

Quoted:
Clinton, all his faults aside, was always a master at positioning himself.....quote]

Yeah... usually on top of his interns.

Ass-kicking Republican ticket for '08:

Rudy + Condi

40MIKE

Quoted: Ass-kicking Republican ticket for '08: Rudy + Condi 40MIKE

No keep Rudy the hell away from the White House.  He was a great mayor from what I could tell but I would not want him as POTUS.

Quoted: Quoted: he's kept a low profile, hillary can't run against an incumbent democrat. hpoefully bush will get back in. i want a colin powell, rudy julliani ticket. if colin would run it would end the minorities blindly voting for democrats once and for all. the democratic party would be over....i'm off subject. I would rather have Condi Rice over Powell.

+1

Powell's hand-wringing persuaded George bush 1 to end Desert Storm early after the "Highway to hell" footage started to appear in the press.  Thinking like a lib cost thousands of innocent Iraqi/Kurdish lives. The U.S. generals said all remaining Iraqi armor would have been destroyed if given just one more day.

Condi would get my vote with no second thought. She would be the best first woman president possible.

BTW, I still think Hillary killed Vince Foster. That whole thing was NEVER resolved.

Scott

Giuliani would sign a Brand New and Improved AWB faster than you
would hit Alizee.

SAY NO TO GIULIANI FOR PRESIDENT!

Rudy
Condi
Jeb Bush.........dont laugh.......had you heard of W before he ran?
J C Watts......again don't laugh.  Think of him as a counter to (brainfart, cant think of his name) the young Black Dem from the Chicago area.

Quoted: Jeb Bush.........dont laugh.......had you heard of W before he ran?

On the news this afternoon, I heard that Jeb Bush recently said that he will never run for president.

You're thinking of Barak Obama.

Quoted: Rudy gun grabber Condi Hell yeah. She is a 2nd Amendment absolutist.

Quoted: he's kept a low profile, hillary can't run against an incumbent democrat. hpoefully bush will get back in. i want a colin powell, rudy julliani ticket. if colin would run it would end the minorities blindly voting for democrats once and for all. the democratic party would be over....i'm off subject.

Why do so many want gun-grabbing Rudi?

Quoted: Quoted: he's kept a low profile, hillary can't run against an incumbent democrat. hpoefully bush will get back in. i want a colin powell, rudy julliani ticket. if colin would run it would end the minorities blindly voting for democrats once and for all. the democratic party would be over....i'm off subject. Why do so many want gun-grabbing Rudi?

Ignorance, maybe?

Clinton does not need to be out and about to be helpful to Kerry. He does intend to tape "robo-calls" -- taped-recorded messages that play when someone answers the phone

Great idea...Telemarketing calls from Bill Clinton – That'll 'energize the base', allright!

Rudy has star power, and name recognition from september-11.  he's also very charismatic.  his speech at the convention was terrific.  he knows how to work the crowd.

on the other hand, he's a gun grabber, and his shoddy treatment of his wife during thier divorce will surely come back to haunt him if he ever tries to run for prez.  that alone would probably cost him a lot of women votes. if not for that, i think he'd have an excellent chance of winning the race.

Klinton has problems, namely his heart.  If he doesn't watch it, they're going to be putting him back in the hospital.

Hillary not only has to worry about Kerry, but she also has to contend with a possible bid in 8 years by Edwards.  I can't see Edwards wanting her as VP.  His life wouldn't be worth a nickel.

She desperately needs Kerry to lose.  If he wins, she may have to resort to the Vincent Foster solution again.

Right now if I had to guess, I'd say McCain and Guliani would be the Republican ticket for '08.  However, a lot can happen in 4 years.

Quoted: I really don't think Hillary is electable. She's out there on the tip of the left wing. God knows none of us can stand her, and I know quite a few Democrats who think she is fucking crazy. God help us if that bitch ever weasels her way into the White House.

I agree...her negatives are way high, and it's hard to ever change that.  

Quoted: Klinton has problems, namely his heart.  If he doesn't watch it, they're going to be putting him back in the hospital.

heh, i hope he is bedridden for a good long time.

Powell and Rice. Can you imagine what that combination would do to the Democrat/NAACP coalition?