by Andrew Zajac

The William J. Clinton Foundation this morning posted a list of donors who have given nearly $500 million to the ex-president's charity.

As expected, there are large dollops of money from China, India and various countries in the Middle East, setting the stage for further discusssion about whether Hillary Clinton can be an honest broker in global hot spots where one side or other has contributed to her husband's foundation.

by Mark Silva

Former President Bill Clinton says his wife first learned of her possible future as Secretary of State the same way that most Americans first heard of Sen. Hillary Clinton's new role.

In the papers.

"She was shocked,'' Bill Clinton said in an interview with CNN. "She first read about it in the newspaper, the speculation.''

The globe-trotting former president - he was interviewed for the first time since President-elect Barack Obama's announcement of the former First Lady as candidate for Secretary of State at the end of another Clinton Global Initiative venture in Asia - discussed his own role with his wife in the new Obama administration.

"I think my involvement will be what our involvement with each other's work has always been,'' Clinton said. "All the years I was a governor and president, I talked to her about everything, and I, you know, found her advice invaluable, and I'm sure we'll talk about all of this. I really care about a lot of these profound challenges that our country and the world are facing.

"But the decisions willl have to be ultimately President-elect Obama's decisions,'' he said. "I'll just try to be a helpful sounding board to her, but I don't think I will do any more... unless he asks me to do something specific, which I am neither looking for or opposed to.''

by Frank James

Former President Bill Clinton is reportedly willing to accept limits on his charitable and money-making activities if that will clear the way for President-elect Sen. Barack Obama to nominate Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

As the Associated Press reports:

CHICAGO (AP) Former President Bill Clinton has offered several concessions to help Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his wife, become secretary of state, people familiar with President-elect Barack Obama's transition vetting process said Wednesday.

Clinton has agreed to release the names of several major donors to his charitable foundation and will submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to a strict ethics review, said Democrats knowledgeable about the discussions.

by Frank James

If you're President-elect Barack Obama and you're looking for a good excuse not to appoint Sen. Hillary Clinton to your cabinet, former President Bill Clinton is a godsend.

The Obama campaign has reportedly been spending time vetting the New York senator before any offer of a cabinet post, presumably Secretary of State, is made.

As part of the vet, Obama's transition team is attempting a full scrub of the former president's business dealings. But evidently, it's rough going.

As the Politico reports:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is President-elect Obama's first choice for secretary of State but his aides are becoming exasperated by the Clinton camp's pokey response to demands for extensive information about former President Bill Clinton's finances, according to numerous Democrats involved in the process.

"The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama," said one well-connected Democratic official.

by Frank James

Being that it's Armistice Day, it seems like perfect timing for Politico's piece on the complicated, uneasy truce between the Obamas and their team and the Clintons and their people. Definitely a clash of personalities between the worlds of No-Drama Obama and All-Drama Bubba and Hillary.

A lot of it comes down to money which, as we all know, has ruined many a good relationship. Evidently, the Clinton people would like to see a lot more help from Obama in retiring the huge campaign debt she ran up trying to destroy Obama.

As Politico reports:

These tensions have created a somewhat schizoid relationship between Clinton and the Obamas - warm on personal matters, warier on political ones, and downright frosty on the still-unresolved issue of Clinton's mountainous campaign debt, which Barack Obama had pledged to help reduce.

Since the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton headlined about three dozen rallies and fundraisers - working rope-lines where well-wishers often lamented her exit from the race.

by Frank James

The conventional wisdom in Washington is that one reason the Bush Administration's proposal to buy toxic assets from financial institutions failed in the House earlier this week is because of bad marketing. The administration allowed the plan to be described as a "bailout" and that word by itself outraged many Americans.

So the language has been changed. The proposal is now being described as an economic, financial or national "rescue plan."

Here's President Bush this afternoon:

I appreciate Senator Harry Reid's leadership in the United States Senate when it comes to the financial rescue plan. I also appreciate Mitch McConnell's leadership as well. The Senate will be voting on a very important measure tonight. It's -- the rescue plan bill has been improved by raising, by other things, raising, temporarily raising the cap of FDIC insurance.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader said:

I'm optimistic that we're going to have a significant bipartisan victory on the rescue plan here in the Senate tonight.

Speaking to the media outside the Senate chamber, Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader used the word bailout but tried to give it a different twist:

This is not a bailout for Wall Street. It's bailout for a country.

But later in the chamber, Reid was on message:

Senators Bennett, Corker and Gregg on the Republican side, as well as Senators Dodd, Baucus, Conrad, Durbin, Jack Reed and Schumer have done an exceptional bipartisan job to move the rescue legislation forward here in the Senate, and their work continues.

by Frank James

OK, so I'm late to the party on Chris Rock's appearance on David Letterman Monday night in which the comedian took out after former President Bill Clinton for not doing enough to promote Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy. I only caught up with it today.

But I'm sure others haven't seen it, so that's my excuse for putting up today.

Anyway, the former president spent many minutes lauding Sen. Joe Biden and, of course, threw his wife's name in the conversation fairly frequently. He did say he supported Obama and that he thought in the end Obama would win because of the general desire for change.

But he definitely didn't do as much drum banging for Obama as he could have which Rock pointed out.

"Is that me or did he not want to say the name Barack Obama?" Rock asked Letterman.

He also has a great Sarah Palin-Michael Vick joke.

For those who've already seen this, good for you. But for those who haven't, I bet you'll get a laugh out of it.

Rock, who in the 1990s starred on Comedy Central's "Politically Incorrect," conceptual predecessor to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Show, definitely keeps alive the spirit of that old show.

by Josh Drobnyk

Former President Bill Clinton, in what could be a preview of his speech Wednesday night, told party-goers in Denver Tuesday night that "this election is not about a politician."

The former president and his wife made a surprise appearance at a party at Invesco Field for the delegations of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Florida. Joined on stage by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and New York Gov. David Patterson, he said he was "so proud" of Hillary Clinton for making "the only argument that matters tonight."

"To Sen. Clinton in advance: I forgive her for upstaging me tomorrow night," he said. "I forgive her for making me looking like a second-rate speaker."

He added: "Hillary made the only argument matters tonight. Nothing else matters. This election is not about a politician."

He added: "Two thirds of the American people are having a tough time. ... And it is not going to get any better. So she made the case. ..."

"You really don't have any choice," he said. "There is not an option here. ... Don't forget -- out there in this country the American people are aching and they are looking to us to shell down the corn and deliver the goods and the only way we can do it is if we do it together."

By Andrew Zajac

Footnote to the Democratic primary: Among the worries of the party faithful about New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the business baggage of Bill Clinton, including his lucrative relationship with Vinod Gupta, founder and CEO of the infoUSA database and marketing firm.

Make that former CEO.

Gupta was replaced as chief executive of the Omaha-based firm as part of a proposed settlement of a shareholder suit which accused him of misspending millions in company funds, part of that on the Clintons.

Gupta, who still owns a hefty chunk of infoUSA shares, remains a board member, but turns over the reins of the company to one of its outside directors, according to an infoUSA announcement this morning.

Clinton looks on during a news conference where he announced a program to reduce the cost of malaria drugs August 3, 2008 in Monrovia, Liberia. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images For The Clinton Foundation)

by Frank James

ABC News has an interview with former President Bill Clinton in which he says he's not a racist for the things he said during the Democratic primary race between his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

That's just how topsy turvy the rise of Obama has made the world for the man once called the "first black president." He now has to protest that he's not a racist.

ABC caught up with Clinton in Liberia where he was traveling to take in the good works of his foundation.

Clinton clearly was barely able to repress his anger during certain parts of the interview but did for the most part. He took a few shots at the media, blaming us for some of the problems experienced by his wife in her unsuccessful run for the White House.

But he held back quite a bit, clearly not wanting to say anything for which he could later be blamed if Sen. Barack Obama, the assumed Democratic presidential nominee, fails to win the presidency.

Clinton promised to unburden himself in "January once the election is over." Does he know something we don't? We thought the election would be over in November.

In any event, despite his desire to stay on the high road, a little of the old Clinton anger did seep out. He was asked about Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina who reporter Kate Snow first identified as a one-time Clinton supporter. Clyburn is Congress's highest ranking African-American.

As Snow writes on the ABC News website:

When Clyburn's name was brought up as a supporter who criticized the former president, Clinton interrupted to say Clyburn was never a supporter of the Clintons.

Pressed on whether Clinton "severely damaged" his standing with African-Americans as Clyburn has claimed, Clinton snapped, "Yeah, that may be. By the time he got through working on it, that was probably true."

Looks like Clyburn burned Clinton's the bridge to the 21st century.

by Christi Parsons

In an elegant high-rise apartment overlooking the Chicago Loop Monday night, Michelle Obama ascended a spiral staircase to address a private party of campaign contributors as they dined on sushi and sipped wine.

But as she spoke she frequently gestured toward the wall of glass windows and to the streets beyond the downtown business district, talking of the problems that face residents on the city's South Side and in other struggling neighborhoods around the country.

"Do we settle for the world as it is?" she asked. "Or do we work for the world as it should be?"

It was a familiar theme for the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, who took the "world as it should be" phrase from a speech she heard her future husband give in a church basement on the far South Side when they were first dating.

On Monday, she employed it in a pitch for Dan Seals and Debbie Halvorson, two Illinois Democrats seeking congressional seats currently held by Republicans. Michelle Obama was the featured guest at the fundraiser in the home of real estate magnate Neil Bluhm, who hosted the event along with Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

by Andrew Zajac

Hillary Clinton biographer Gail Sheehy weighs in with a fascinating post-mortem on the New York senator's just-concluded presidential campaign in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair.

According to Sheehy, fierce infighting among the Clinton inner circle "team of rivals" -- Harold Ickes, Mark Penn, Patty Solis Doyle, Mandy Grunwald and Howard Wolfson, left the campaign unable to recover from blunders, like woefully underestimating Barack Obama and dithering about competing aggressively in the Iowa caucuses.

Nor could the campaign reign in Bill Clinton, whom Sheehy portrays as an imperial figure carrying on as though the presidency for his wife was a family birthright.

In the end, the combination of Obama's unexpectedly impressive performance and the new Democratic establishment's wariness and weariness of the Clintons helped prevent the expected rescue of the campaign by the party's superdelegates.

Read Sheehy's entire take on the campaign here.

by Andrew Zajac

Part of the process of reconciliation between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton requires the Illinois senator to schmooze and stroke Clinton's big donors.

Obama began the process last week with a meeting of Clinton's national finance committee.

One of the challenges this poses for Obama, whose campaign champions change in Washington, is how he will deal with some of the decidedly old school aspects of Clinton's fundraising wherein the candidate did not worry unduly about exactly where the money came from or what scrapes the donors may have been involved in.

Donors like Sant Chatwal, who has waged lengthy battles with tax collectors, bankruptcy court and government regulators, while maintaining his status as a key campaign bundler and door-opener among Indian-Americans for first Bill Clinton and later Hillary Clinton.

Chatwal also helped arrange one of Bill Clinton's bigger post-presidential paydays, serving as the go-between for Clinton and a London charity which wound up paying him $450,000 for an appearance at a 2006 fundraiser. That was nearly one third of the fundraiser's revenue and $170,000 more than Clinton charged for ordinary overseas for-profit appearances.

Now Chatwal is warming up to Obama.

By Naftali Bendavid

As Democrats move into the fall campaign, many are asking where Clinton fits into the new landscape.

Not Hillary Clinton, who just held a major "unity" event with Barack Obama and backed him with apparent enthusiasm. Rather, many of the questions now surround her husband Bill. Before this year, the former president was moving comfortably into a perch as an elder statesman, even if the old whiff of controversy never quite went away. But Bill Clinton received decidely mixed reviews this year as he careened across the political stage during his wife's recent campaign, and it's not clear where its end leaves him, especially since much of the commentary suggests he is sulking.

A striking feature of the past week was the difference in the Clintons' tones as each surfaced for the first time since Barack Obama claimed the Democratic nomination. Hillary Clinton was gracious and poised in her return to the Senate, as well as at the rally in Unity, N.H. Greeted emotionally by staffers and colleagues, she handled what must have been a tough moment with self-deprecation and humor.

Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morell. (Pentagon photo.)

by Frank James

At today's Pentagon briefing, Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell, was asked about the preparations his agency is making to continue operating in the event Congress doesn't pass the war-spending bill.

He answered by saying that officials within the department were working now to figure out who the "essential" employees are who would have to work even if the department shutdown:

...And so we are, as you know, I think, taking some prudent planning measures just in case that money doesn't come through. Deputy Secretary Gordon England sent a memo throughout the department earlier this week asking for all the departments to begin planning for a possible shutdown, and all the departments are due to report back to him by June 30th with a plan as to what they would do to shut things down. And he's additionally, I think, asked that we figure out who sort of the essential civilian personnel is that would have to remain working even without pay in the event of a shutdown.

Morrell's use of the word "essential" would likely send shivers through some at the Pentagon and cause painful flashbacks for federal employees who lived through the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996.

That's because all federal workers like to be regarded as essential. Otherwise, maybe federal managers will get it in their heads to start downsizing their agencies.

By Naftali Bendavid

To the various and sundry gaps John McCain must confront this fall--the fundraising gap, the excitement gap, the party approval gap--add one more: the surrogate gap.

Assuming the Clintons recover from their primary battle wounds and campaign hard for Barack Obama, which seems likely, the Democratic candidate could have quite a stable of stars to campaign for him around the country, augmenting his own demonstrated ability to draw a crowd. Consider, just for starters:

= Hillary Clinton herself. She has an impassioned following among working-class voters, women and the elderly. She inspired millions by almost becoming the first woman nominee of a major party. Her supporters remain disappointed by her loss to Obama, but if she campaigns in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, she could generate significant excitement on Obama's behalf.

by Jim Tankersley

BRISTOW, Va. - Barack Obama is looking forward to campaigning with a pair of Clintons this summer and fall. But don't bother asking if he'll pick the Clinton he just defeated as his running mate.

Fielding questions on his campaign plane over Virginia, Obama heaped praise on Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, his vanquished Democratic rival, pronouncing himself "grateful for her support." He also said he expected to mend fences with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who criticized Obama sharply at times during the primary season.

"Bill Clinton is an enormous talent," Obama said, "and I would welcome him campaigning for us."

Obama said choosing a running mate will be the most important decision he makes before the November election, and he repeated his oft-used line that Hillary Clinton would be on anyone's short list. But he said not to expect any details about his short list to leak from what he plans to make a tightly-guarded, deliberative process.

"The next time you hear from me about the vice presidential selection process will be when I have selected a vice president," he said. :If you hear secondhand accounts, rumors, gossip about the selection process, you can take it from me that it is wrong, because we're not going to be talking about it in the press."

Clinton's campaign released a statement this afternoon disavowing an overt campaign to pressure Obama to select her, calling the pick "Sen. Obama's, and his alone."

Obama said he has not spoken to Clinton since she announced she would endorse him this weekend, but predicted he and she will appear together soon. "She ran a magnificent campaign," he said. "She inspired millions of people. She inspired the best from me. And we are going to be working together to win in November. So until that time when we have a conversation, I don't want to speculate or characterize anything."

by Frank James

The long, hard-fought Democratic primary campaign produced plenty of fodder for Republicans to use against the all-but-official Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, in the form of criticism by other Democrats of Obama's relatively short national-security resume.

On the morning after Obama claimed enough delegates to capture the Democratic nomination, the Republican National Committee launched a new web ad called "Democrats vs. Obama" which uses Democrats' own words expressing doubts about Obama's readiness to be commander-in-chief.

The ad features Sen. Hillary and former President Bill Clinton , Sen. Joe Biden, and John Edwards raising questions about his experience.

Such ads will likely be a major part of the Republican strategy against Obama.

And why not? Voters expect the opposition to criticize a party's putative nominee so they're more likely to discount Republican charges against a Democrat.

But criticisms from respected members of the same party could have more resonance, especially in a general-election context. At least, that's what Republicans are hoping for.

by Frank James updated 3:44 pm

Sen. Barack Obama has said that Sen. Hillary Clinton would be on anyone's short list for vice president. It appears Clinton may be trying to see if he really meant it.

The Associated Press is reporting that Clinton has told New York lawmakers that she's "open" to being Obama's vice presidential pick. We don't have much more than this AP news alert to work with:

By BETH FOUHY and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers

AP-ES-06-03-08 1534EDT

If Obama chooses Clinton, it certainly would be one way of trying to heal the divide in the Democratic Party.

But there's a widespread belief that there's so much bad blood between the camps that such a combination would be virtually impossible.

An equally strong belief is that the presence of former President Bill Clinton in the mix would make such a ticket untenable and, should such a ticket win the general election, for a very charged and poisonous White House atmosphere.

by Frank James

It should surprise no one that Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.,) the highest ranking black in congressional leadership, has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

After all, black South Carolinians went overwhelmingly (80 percent) for Obama and that was a result Clyburn, the state's most important black politician, was never going to buck.

Meanwhile, Clyburn had expressed disappointment several times with remarks by Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton that many interpreted as racially tinged disparagement of Obama or even Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

On NBC's "Today" show where he officially made his announcement, Clyburn deflected host Matt Lauer's attempt to make it look as if he was playing it safe by waiting until the end of the process when it was clear Obama would be the nominee before publicly making his move.

No, Clyburn said earnestly, looking like an undertaker (for Clinton's campaign, perhaps?) As a superdelegate, he merely hadn't wanted to insert himself into the primary process, preferring to give voters the chance to make their choice known first.

by Christi Parsons

The last thing Barack Obama's campaign wanted at this morning's Democratic Party showdown over the Michigan and Florida delegates was a big clash outside between their supporters and those of Hillary Clinton.

And as of 9:30 a.m., they seem to have achieved their goal. Hundreds of demonstrators are gathered outside waving signs, but there were no obvious Obama backers among the protesting crowd.

Many are wearing Clinton t-shirts and buttons, including Beatriz Ocampo, a paralegal who drove down from Hoboken, N.J. to join the rally.

Her beef is mostly with the Democratic National Committee and its Rules and Bylaws panel, which is meeting inside, because of the party's decision to strip Michigan and Florida of its delegates to the summer nominating convention. The states are being punished for holding early primaries in violation of DNC rules.

But like several others interviewed, Ocampo is also concerned about the fallout for the Clinton campaign. She thinks it would be easier to argue to superdelegates that Clinton should be the nominee if the Michigan and Florida delegations were seated.

"It's resented by her supporters that party leaders are trying to throw her under the bus," said Ocampo.

Nearby, one Obama supporter stood quietly, wearing her candidate's button.

In her bag were voter registration materials, for anybody who wanted to take them and go out and work on Obama's behalf signing up voters.

If Obama supporters show up, she says she'll encourage them to direct their efforts elsewhere.

"If they have extra time and energy," said Pat Hynes, of Reston, Va., "we have several voter registration drives going on. There's something productive they can do."

There's still some question among the demonstrators whether the Rules committee, which just convened its meeting minutes ago, wlil do something productive. The Clinton supporters want to see the full seating of the "Florigan" delegates, and anything short of that seems unlikely to change the dynamic of the race in which Obama has a strong lead.

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

As Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign rests on shaky ground, another Clinton might be in line to carry the family name back to the White House.

In a People magazine article to be released on Friday, former President Bill Clinton says that a Chelsea presidential run is not out of the question, considering his daughter's surprising political adroitness on the campaign trail.

Here's a snippet from the ABC News political blog:

ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Perhaps there will be a Madame President Clinton after all. No, not Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. How about former first daughter and active campaigner Chelsea Clinton?

When asked what he's learned about Chelsea's political skills, Clinton told PEOPLE, "It all changed after Iowa. She realized her mother lost Iowa 100 percent because of younger voters. She was upset, bawled, went to her employer and said, 'Look, you got to let me go or give me an indefinite leave of absence. I'm not letting my mother go down like this.'"

by Rick Pearson

LOUISVILLE--Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, made a brunchtime stop at a downtown diner today on primary day, posing for photos and signing autographs as she prepared for an anticipated Kentucky victory and put together plans to extend her uphill campaign.

At Lynn's Paradise Café, an eclectic establishment of dining and tacky gifts, such as bacon-flavored gummies, the Clintons took separate paths, talking with diners and sitting down with eaters to thank them for their support and for getting out the vote.

The former president also put in a pitch for Democrats to seat convention nominating delegations from Michigan and Florida, who were stripped of their delegates for moving their primaries ahead of Feb. 5. Clinton claims victories in the two states, though she was the only major candidate on the Michigan ballot and neither candidate campaigned in the two states.

Bill Clinton noted that while Democrats took away all of the Michigan and Florida delegates, he believed Republicans were smarter in taking a different approach--taking away half of the states' convention delegates. Republicans, Clinton said, "took the more progressive, more enlightened and more self-interested position and this needs to be resolved."

The Clinton campaign has backed a challenge the Democratic National Committee rules that took away the delegates from those two states and a meeting of the DNC's bylaws committee is scheduled on May 31, making the date as crucial to her longshot hopes of winning the nomination against frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama as any primary contest.

(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

by Frank James

Here's an interesting thought: Sen. Barack Obama's legions of admirers and supporters should thank the Clintons because without them, Obama's road to the White House would be a lot steeper if not impossible.

Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, makes that very compelling argument in an essay in Time magazine. Beinart's on to something.

For starters, Clinton deracialized American politics. He didn't deracialize it completely, of course. But knitting together a coalition of blacks and whites is easier today because Clinton restored the Democrats' credibility on economic issues and took three of the most racially toxic issues in U.S. politics--crime, welfare and affirmative action--off the table.

When Michael Dukakis ran for President in 1988, crime was perhaps the biggest issue in the campaign. It splintered his coalition, pitting blacks who saw the death penalty as racially unfair against blue-collar whites who demanded a hard line against crime and too often associated that crime with blacks. Today, by contrast, roughly 1% of Americans say crime is their top issue, and no one even knows what Obama's position on the death penalty is. For Obama, that's an enormous boon, and Bill Clinton deserves a lot of the credit. His policies--especially his bold proposal for 100,000 new cops--helped bring down the crime rate. And by embracing the death penalty, he eliminated one of the GOP's best wedge issues. That embrace was ugly at times, as when Clinton flew back to Arkansas during the 1992 campaign to oversee the execution of a mentally retarded man. But it was politically shrewd. And because Clinton did it then, Obama doesn't have to now.

by Frank James

Sen. John McCain has his work cut out for him if the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute accurately captures the voters' mood.

According to the poll, McCain runs behind both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a general-election matchup:

Either one of the two Democratic contenders, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, leads the likely Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Sen. Obama leads Sen. McCain 47 - 40 percent while Sen. Clinton is up 46 - 41 percent.

In an Obama-McCain matchup, independent voters back the Democrat 48 - 37 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Men split with 45 percent for McCain and 44 percent for Obama, while women back Obama 49 - 36 percent. McCain leads 47 - 40 percent among white voters, while blacks back Obama 87 - 4 percent.

by Don Frederick

As 11-year-old Dalton Hatfield set about selling his earthly possessions, his parents thought he was doing his part to help pay for a family vacation.

Instead, he was doing his part to help his favored presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. And on Friday, the young fellow made news when he presented a stunned Bill Clinton with a check for $440.

The former president, according an Associated Press story on the occasion, "seemed to nearly come to tears" as he accepted the donation at a fire station in Williamson, W.Va. (one of the many off-the-beaten-path locales where he has been rallying support for his wife).

The Hillary Clinton campaign, understandably, was so taken with the boy's gesture that today it posted the AP story on its website. Every little bit helps, after all, when it comes to erasing the $20-million debt that the campaign acknowledged on Sunday.

Killjoys that we are, we checked federal regulations just to make sure everything was on the up-and-up with Hatfield's contribution. And we are relieved to report ...

that it passes muster.

by Frank James

Back in 1992, Bill Clinton's presidential campaign must've burned through incredible numbers of Fleetwood Mac compact discs as the song "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" was an anthem in constant rotation at his campaign events.

Based on her campaign theme that the '90s were so much better than the 2000s and that she wants to take the nation back there, Sen. Hillary Clinton could set her iPod to play a never-ending loop of the Beatles' "Yesterday" with the lyrics: "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. I believe in yesterday."

At least, that's what struck me after reading The Wall Street Journal's story today about the delicate dance the senator from New York is doing as she tries to win over voters who remember the "peace and prosperity" of that era without reminding those same voters of the Clinton Scandals.

The Journal story has this delicious anecdote from the campaign trail, for instance:

"Sometimes during this campaign I hear criticism of the 1990s. That's fair. It's an election and we've got to expect to be criticized," Sen. Clinton told an audience last week in Fayetteville, N.C. She continued with a line she has repeated often: "But I always wonder what part of the 1990s they didn't like: the peace or the prosperity?"

Just then, an Obama supporter in the audience yelled, "Yeah, but your husband also got impeached for infidelity," referring to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Workers leave the Warren Truck Assembly in Warren, Mich. during a shift change, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

by Frank James

For Sen. Barack Obama, there's good and bad news as far as white working-class voters are concerned.

The good news is that the kind of voters who once again showed in Pennsylvania their unwillingness to vote for him are declining as a percentage of the electorate.

The bad news is that their proportion among voters generally isn't going to shrink fast enough to help him.

That and other conclusions can drawn from a new and very enlightening paper by Ruy Teixeira, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

In "The Decline of the White Working Class and the Rise of a Mass Upper Middle Class," Teixeira and Abramowitz say that however you define the white working class--by income, education, or occupation--its percentage among all voters is declining. It has fallen 30-50 percentage points since the World War II period till now.

Depending on which definition you use, the white-working class population has gone from being the vast majority of white Americans 60 years ago to a third or less of then white population.

by Frank James

In an earlier post, we mentioned that Sen. Barack Obama disagreed with comments former President Bill Clinton made suggesting that it was the senator from Illinois's campaign that injected race into the presidential campaign.

What failed to come through in that previous post was just how incensed the former president is over allegations that he was the one who played the race card, specifically on the day of South Carolina's presidential primary when he appeared to try and minimize Obama's expected big victory in the Palmetto State over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

According to a Fox News story, Clinton's got pretty earthy yesterday at the end of interview with a Philadelphia radio station while the microphone was still open.

Clinton told WHYY radio in Philadelphia in a phone interview that his words about Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns leading up to wife's primary loss in South Carolina had been twisted and he has been unfairly painted with the banner of racism.

As evidence of his work for racial equality, he pointed to his own appointment of blacks, Hispanics and women to top administration posts, his work worldwide to combat AIDS, and to his Harlem office space.

Former president Bill Clinton campaiging for wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana this week. AP Photo by Daniel R. Patmore.

by Frank James

If it's true to say that the Clintons, indisputably two smart lawyers, sacrificed their ability to make mega millions during their years of government service in Arkansas through the Clinton presidency, they obviously have been making up for the lean years with a vengeance since President Bill Clinton left office.

We knew that from their book deals and his speech fees, even before the Clintons were goaded into publicly disclosing their tax returns recently that showed that they made $111 million since leaving the White House in 2001. To be fair, they've also donated a tremendous amount of money to charity.

Now comes the Politico story that President Bill Clinton has had $8 million in official ex-president expenses.

As Politico reports:

The price tag for Clinton’s federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush’s and $4 million for Jimmy Carter’s during the same period.

Since 2001, Clinton has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents — from his pension to his staff’s salaries and benefits to supplies. His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.

By John Riley

Following the excellent links in this Huffington Post story on Bill Clinton's ties to Colombia and lucrative trade-related speaking fees, we find:

In May, 2007, Colombia -- looking to overcome Democrats' resistance to a free trade deal -- hires Mark Penn's firm, Burson Marsteller, for $300,000. Penn is Hillary's chief strategist at the time, and the hiring is publicized.

In May, 2007, Colombia -- pursuing the same goals -- puts the Glover Park Group, partly owned by Hillary spokesman Howard Wolfson, on a $30,000 a month retainer. Wolfson is already working for Hillary, and that deal is also publicized.

In May 2007, Colombia announces plans for a gala in June to honor former President Bill Clinton, with President Alvaro Uribe (left) to honor Clinton with a "Colombia is Passion" award in return for his support. While Al Gore backed out of an April, 2007, event with Uribe because of his opposition to Colombia's human and labor rights practices, Clinton attends the June gala, and says in his speech, "We need to remember that we are friends."

By Rick Pearson

KENOSHA, Wis.-- Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton’s voice filled with emotion today as she listened to the story of a mother and young daughter who said they were being forced from their home due to a skyrocketing adjustable mortgage.

Appearing at a rally and question and answer session inside the Brat Shop, a restaurant located off Interstate 94, the main north-south route between Chicago and Milwaukee, Clinton asked local officials if they could provide any help to the woman.

The woman, who identified herself only as Donna, took to a small dance-floor being used as a stage after her young daughter asked Clinton what she intended to do for “children that are going to lose their houses.”

by Frank James

Did President Bill Clinton help a wealthy Canadian mining executive get access to uranium ore in Kazakhstan and did the mining magnate give the former president's charity millions of dollars of contributions as a thank you?

Only the principals involved know if that's the case and they have denied any quid pro quo.

But the excellent New York Times exploration today by Jo Becker and Don Van Natta of the ties between the former president and the mining executive is sure to raise eyebrows for a number of reasons.

The story tells us about a September 2005 Kazakhstan trip Clinton made with the Canadian businessman, Frank Guistra. During that trip, the former president praised Kazakh strongman, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, for "opening up" the former Soviet state politically.

At a press conference during the visit, Clinton also supported the Kazakh goal to lead the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

What's really strange about this is that the former president's position contradicted the formal policy of the Bush Administration but also the stated position of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

by Frank James

If a politician wants to score points with the public, it never hurts to beat up on the media, something which President Clinton, a politician with few equals, knows and demonstrated yesterday when he got gnarly with Jessica Yellin of CNN.

Yellin asked Clinton a legitmate question. If the former Democratic Party state chair likens the tactics used by a former president of his own party to those once used by Lee Atwater, one of the most fearsome Republican political strategists, that certainly needs a response from the accused.

Surely, if CNN had just reported the comments of Dick Harpootlian, the former South Carolina party chair, without offering Clinton a chance to repond, that would not only have violated journalistic ethics but it would have no doubt angered the former president, and justifiably so,

So this was clearly a case where Yellin was damned either way.

by Frank James

Fellow Chicago Tribune blogger Eric Zorn goes where Sen. Barack Obama fears to tread.

Eric is flat out declaring in a post on his "Change of Subject" blog that Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton, are flat out lying about what Sen. Barack Obama said regarding the late President Ronald Reagan.

Eric provides the transcript of Obama's comments to the Reno Gazette Journal's editorial board when he was campaigning in Nevada.

We also have video so that you can either believe the Clintons or your lying eyes and ears:

Anyway, Eric starts out by quotiing from The Swamp's live blog of the debate last night:

(Barack) Obama stopped just short of calling (Hillary) Clinton and her husband liars... from the Swamp's live blog of last night's Democratic debate.

Hmm. I see no reason to stop short. Bill and Hillary Clinton have lied brazenly about Obama's recent statement about Ronald Reagan.

Let's look at the transcripts (emphasis added):

Hillary Clinton, Jan 18:

My leading opponent the other day said that he thought the Republicans had better ideas than Democrats the last 10 to 15 years.

Bill Clinton, Jan 18:

(My wife's) principal opponent said that since 1992, the Republicans have had all the good ideas....I'm not making this up, folks.

Well, yes he is. The key, inflammatory words in the Clintons' quotes are better and good, and I invite you, reader, to find it these transcripts of what Obama has actually said:

by Frank James

When former President Bill Clinton appeared on the Charlie Rose show on Friday with the clear goal of boosting his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and knocking Sen. Barack Obama down a few pegs, the former president took aim at an argument Obama has made repeatedly on the stump.

Obama has sought to diminish the importance of experience by pointing out that President Bush's team included members with deep Washington experience like Vice President Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The former president said about the 35 minutes, 20 seconds into the video recorded interview:

"I remember the first time Sen. Obama said 'You know, Cheney and Rumsfeld had a lot of experience.' And that has great superficial appeal. But let me make the argument in another context.

"That's like saying, because 100 percent of the malpractice cases, medical malpractice, are committed by doctors, the next time I need surgery, I'll get a chef or plumber to do it."

Clinton paused dramatically to let the words sink in.

"I mean, the logical extension of that is inherently absurd,"

Alan Greenspan, author of The Age of Turbulence, has created some in Washington with his new memoir. AP photo

by William Neikirk

Alan Greenspan’s new book is full of odd detail. He confesses that Ayn Rand, the libertarian author and his mentor, called him "the undertaker" because of his serious manner and conservative clothing. As a boy, he collected railroad timetables, a vicarious if not nerdy way of seeing the world. Unlike most people, he wanted to get out of New York City.

The former chairman of the Federal Reserve writes that his wife, television correspondent Andrea Mitchell, jokes to friends that he proposed three times in his indecipherable "Fedspeak" before she grasped what he was saying. Wrong, said Greenspan. "Actually, I proposed five times—she missed a couple."

For all the lightness and heaviness sprinkled through Greenspan’s memoir, "The Age of Turbulence," this is a serious book by and about a serious man who felt secure enough to criticize President Bush and the Republican Party from which he came for failing to take fiscal discipline seriously. The GOP deserved to lose last year’s elections, he says, and Bush made a mistake in not vetoing a bill. What heresy it was to say that he is fonder of Bill Clinton than any president named Bush.

by John McCormick

On a day Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announced it was returning $850,000 tied to a Democratic fundraiser under federal investigation, former President Bill Clinton helped raise at least $125,000 for his wife in Chicago.

About 600 donors gathered this evening to hear Clinton speak at the SushiSamba restaurant in the River North neighborhood. The event was closed to the media.

Admission to the sold-out event ranged from $100 to $1,000, with those at the top end invited to spend some time with Clinton in a private VIP room.

Sen. Clinton has made a greater effort in recent months to try to raise money from the Chicago area, a region she largely ceded to Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois during the first part of the year.

by William Neikirk

The first president named George--Washington, that is--issued the first pardon. He did it for the non-indicted participants in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. It helped quell passions over his government's decision to crush a protest over whiskey taxes.

Now the current president named George--Bush, that is--is holding the door open to pardoning a close aide (Scooter Libby) for lying to government investigators in a probe about leaking the name of a CIA operative whose husband had openly challenged the president's Iraqi war policy.

The prospect of a pardon for Libby, whose sentence has already been commuted by Bush, is not quelling passions. It is doing the opposite. Indeed, the president's constitutional power to pardon individuals has had a checkered past, and often has spurred more controversy than healing.

by Frank James

It's curious Sen. Hillary Clinton didn't decide to punt on the issue of the President Bush's use of his clemency power to commute I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence in the CIA leak trial since she should've foreseen the very effective White House comeback which amounts to: You of all people have a lot of nerve.

Legal and presidential experts on the presidential pardon power are fairly unanimous in asserting that the Clinton White House put on a clinic on how NOT to give pardons.

The case of fugitive financier Marc Rich, who President Bill Clinton pardoned just as his presidency was about to turn into a pumpkin, was bad enough since there was the appearance of impropriety, of a seamy quid pro quo, given that Rich's ex-wife had given political cash to Clinton.

by John McCormick

PELLA, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama acknowledged the 20-ton elephant in the state Wednesday, praising former President Bill Clinton while also saying that his campaign is "not premised on running against the past."

On his final day of a two-day swing through the early caucus state, Obama answered reporter questions for the first time during the trip -- at least as many as could be squeezed into 15 minutes -- and addressed the running story in the state of Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigning with her husband for the first time since she announced her presidential bid.

In doing so, the senator from Illinois also took a subtle slap at the Clintons, who are campaigning under the banner of "Ready for Change, Ready to Lead."

"Change can't just be a slogan," he said. "Change has to be something that is demonstrated day to day, on an ongoing basis."

Obama also sold himself as being best able to work across the political spectrum.

"The question is how can we get enough Democrats, Republicans, independents working together to actually solve these big problems," he said. "I believe this campaign can make that happen."

Obama discounted suggestions that Clinton has a strong lead against him in national polls. "The notion that they are opening up this wide lead across the country, I think, is just the sort of ups and downs of national polling at this point," he said.

Responding to a statement by President Bush made today in West Virginia that the nation needs to show "more patience, more courage and more sacrifice" when it comes to the war in Iraq, Obama said he could not disagree more.

"The president has stubbornly denied the facts on the ground for a long time now," he said. "Unfortunately, you've got our young men and women there who are paying the price."

by John McCormick

DES MOINES -- Iowa is abuzz with presidential politics today, with seven Republican and Democratic candidates and a former president in the state today.

Sen. Barack Obama kicks off a two-day swing through southeast Iowa, where he will hit several of the state's counties he has never visited before. It is his 13th trip to the state since he announced his candidacy in February.

Obama is expected to hold a press conference on the 4th of July, just as he did at the end of his Memorial Day trip in New Hampshire. There will also be a special celebration Wednesday, which is the birthday of Obama daughter Malia, who is turning nine. Obama is campaigning alone today, although his family is expected to join him for the 4th.

But last night, it was the Clinton's night, with thousands attending a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds with Sen. Hillary Clinton and her former president husband. Here is the Tribune's story on the Clinton visit, the first joint campaign stumping of her presidential bid:

by John McCormick

Sen. Barack Obama said today that it was "stupid" for his presidential campaign to issue documents that raise questions about Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to India and Indian Americans.

“It was a screw-up on the part of our research team,” Obama told editors and reporters with The Des Moines Register, according to the paper’s Web site. “It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen.”

Later in the afternoon, Obama issued a specific statement of apology to Indian supporters.

Monday marked the first time Obama had spoken publicly about a flare-up last week involving Clinton, a fellow Democrat.

The situation was triggered by the distribution of documents to the media -- on an off-the-record basis -- that offered a harsh analysis of Clinton and her former president husband. One appeared under the headline “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)’s personal financial and political ties to India.”

Posted by John McCormick and Christi Parsons

Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign expressed regret late Friday for the “tone” used in recently disclosed campaign documents that raised questions about rival Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton’s ties to India and Indian Americans.

The statement from Obama’s campaign manager came in the wake of complaints from an Indian American group, whose leader complained earlier in the day about “anti-Indian American stereotyping” in the documents.

“There cannot be a suggestion that Indian-Americans are somehow taboo,” said Sanjay Puri, chairman of the 50,000-member U.S.-India Political Action Committee. “That is not the message we want any leader to be presenting.”

In a letter to Obama’s campaign, the group asked the Illinois Democrat to "respond directly" to the reports and to "let us know if indeed your staff is promoting these hurtful stereotypes."

Posted by William Neikirk at 12:20 p.m. CDT

As the world reacts to Boris Yeltsin's death, many will remember his fondness for bluster and good strong drink.

It didn't seem to bother him when he appeared in public under the influence. When I covered the Clinton administration, I remember a few press conferences between Bill Clinton and Yeltsin when it seemed the Russian president seemed inebriated.

Perhaps the most memorable occurred in 1995 at Hyde Park in New York, where Clinton and Yeltsin had a summit conference prior to an appearance at the United Nations. At the time, Yeltsin and Clinton were trying to work out a deal on Bosnia, but there were sharp differences.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:15 a.m. CDT

With the Clintons, it's beginning to sound more and more like two for the price of one.

Over the weekend came the news that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would make her husband a roaming ambassador to the world if she is elected president, with the aim of improving America's tattered image.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:25 a.m. CDT

Former President Bill Clinton played a little game of political diversion on Larry King Live Thursday night. He had a hard time saying the name "Obama."

When asked by King about the threat posed by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to his wife's candidacy, he gave no direct answer. Instead, he said Democrats have such a great field that "nobody has to vote against anybody."

Guest posted by Glenn Thrush of Newsday at 11:35 p.m CDT

Michael Fauntroy, a politics professor who makes a weekly appearance on Chicago’s African-American talk station WVON-AM, has noticed a curious pattern of caller comments recently. Folks are taking issue, he says, with the whole Bill-Clinton-as-First-Black-President story line and questioning just how good Clinton really was for the community, especially his still-controversial 1996 welfare reform act.

"It’s intensified over the last two weeks, I’d say a total of a half-dozen people called in skeptical of Bill Clinton’s record," said Fauntroy, who thinks (without any evidence) Obama fans are behind the surge in calls.

Posted by William Neikirk at 11 a.m. CST

Americans think Bill Clinton would be a great First Man if his wife were elected president.

"An asset," a Gallup Panel survey said today. By a better than a two-to-one margin, or 70 to 28 percent, "Americans believe he would be more helpful than harmful to his wife's presidency," Gallup said.

He'd be great giving parties, hosting social events, championing a social issue or cause, representing the White House at foreign weddings and funerals, Americans indicated in the survey.

Posted by Jill Zuckman at 1 p.m. CST

It was the sort of rat-a-tat-tat political spat that is more likely to break out in the snowy cold of New Hampshire in the critical days before the nation’s first presidential primary.

Instead, nearly a year before those first contests and almost two years before the 2008 general election, a petulant war of words has broken out between the two top contenders for the Democratic nomination.

The morning after a high-powered Hollywood fund-raiser for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), campaign officials for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) threw the first punch.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:20 p.m. CST

There's this guy who took some highly classified documents from the National Archives three years ago. He stuffed them into his suit when he thought no one was looking.

His pockets bulging, he walked outside to Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation's capital. He leaned down and hid them under a construction trailer--in the dirt.

He retrieved them later and took them to his office, using scissors to cut up three copies. He put them in the trash. These documents were government reports. They dealt with the threat of terrorist attacks during the Clinton administration. It was a controversial issue, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

No, this man is not a spy. It's clear he's not James Bond. He's Samuel (Sandy) Berger. He was Clinton's National SECURITY adviser.

(CNN obtained the National Archives and Records Agency inspector general's report.

Posted by William Neikirk at 1:40 p.m. CST

Just think about this. You made the cover of Time Magazine as person of the year. Yes, you heard it correctly.

It seemed that Time couldn't come up with a single person of the year, and so its editors came up with what they obviously thought was a brilliant choice. The person of the year is YOU.

So are members of your family and your friends and enemies, too. So are felons, drug users, burglars and bank robbers, not to mention every single politician, lawyer and journalist in the country.

George Bush made it, but so did Hillary Clinton, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, and though I hate to say it, so did Uncle Harry. Please, not Uncle Harry. It will go to his head.

Posted at 2:31 pm CST

(President Bush and former President Bill Clinton meet today at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.)

Posted By David Lerman at 4:20 pm CDT

ARLINGTON, Va. --Former President Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party’s fundraiser-in-chief, paid a visit Thursday to a state he had twice written off in his own campaigns: Virginia.

In a measure of the strengthened position Democrats enjoy in the mid-term elections, the national party is now pumping money and star power into a conservative southern state that was supposed to be safe turf for Republicans.

Posted by Frank James at 1:14 pm CDT

Who do you blame, President Bush or former President Clinton for Osama bin Laden not being captured?

It’s a question that’s all of sudden become relevant with the controversy over the recent television docudrama, “The Path to 9/11;” Clinton’s memorable appearance on Fox News Sunday, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s effort earlier in the week to shift the blame on the Clinton administration.

Posted by Frank James at 1:43 pm CDT

If I were Karl Rove or the Republican National Committee, I would pray former President Bill Clinton stays off television.

You just don’t want too many voters thinking that by voting for Democrats this November, they just might be voting for him.

If you haven’t seen Clinton’s performance during the interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, you really owe it to yourself. It was pure Clinton. Agree with him or not, he’s just incredibly entertaining, downright riveting to watch.