A Fresh Appetite for an Ex-President
Clinton's Aid Would Be Welcome, Candidates Say
By Dan Balz and Tania Branigan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 14, 2003; Page A06
INDIANOLA, Iowa, Sept. 13 -- There were seven presidential candidates and several thousand Democratic activists assembled on a muddy field here this afternoon, but the red-and-white placards told the story: "Welcome Back Bill," they said. "We Miss You!"
They were referring, of course, to former President Bill Clinton, the star at the annual political steak fry hosted by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) and a politician who still looms large over his party almost three years after he left office.
In the 2000 campaign, Democrat Al Gore, concerned about the fallout from the political scandals associated with Clinton's personal life, largely shunned the man who had picked him to be vice president in 1992. Today, Clinton was embraced as a Democratic hero.
"I'd vote for him again," said Barbara Anderson, as she walked toward the food tent with her husband and family. "He's a people person, and we need more of that."
These activists are focused on the battle for the 2004 Democratic nomination, but when Clinton took the stage, they rolled back the clock, remembering the man who had energized their party and brought them back from the wilderness in 1992. They also listened intently as Clinton delivered a seminar in how to try to win back the White House in 2004.
The former president charged his successor, President Bush, with missing an opportunity to unite the country after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it, and instead of uniting America, we divided it by pushing it too far to the right," he said.
He also regaled his audience by pointing out that Bush had given the wealthy -- himself included, Clinton noted repeatedly, now that he is earning millions -- a big tax cut, but that it came at the cost of cuts in law enforcement, education and other programs affecting ordinary people. Most Americans, he said, don't know that.
"All we have to do to win is make our differences clear," Clinton said. "Tell them [the voters] what they don't know and wouldn't like either if they knew it, and what we would do if they gave us the job."
Clinton also appeared conscious of not overshadowing the candidates, even though a majority of Democrats cannot even name one of them. "I get tired of people saying this field can't beat the incumbent president," he said, and added, "I know these people, and this is the best field of candidates we have put forward in decades."
Harkin, who ran against Clinton in primaries in 1992, has been holding his steak fry for a quarter-century, but this may have been one of the most unusual he has ever staged, and not just because of the rain that fell steadily throughout the day, stopping finally shortly before Clinton took the stage.
With the Iowa precinct caucuses -- the first major contest on the calendar next year -- little more than four months away, the gathering provided the candidates a forum to show off their organizations and perhaps convert some of the undecided.
Seven candidates appeared here today, with only Al Sharpton and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) not in attendance. Supporters staged mini-rallies in behalf of their candidates. Those backing Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) distributed oranges. Supporters of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) trailed him while smacking together inflatable tubes with "Bushwhacked" printed on them.
The candidates have vied to embrace Clinton on the campaign trail, and when they had their brief opportunity to speak today, it was as if they were trying to channel the spirit of the former president. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), like Clinton a southerner with a big smile, said, "I'm tired of Democrats walking away from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who led the greatest period of economic growth in our history."
"He brought us peace and prosperity," former Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun said to cheers from the audience. "This crowd has [the Bush administration] brought us depression and war."
Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) told reporters he wants Clinton's help if he becomes the nominee next year. "When I'm the nominee, I'm going to have Bill Clinton out on road for me fighting to win this presidency," he said.
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean (D) also said he, too, would welcome Clinton at his side. "He's a larger-than-life figure, so there's always a risk that he'll diminish whoever the nominee is, but I think that he'd be a very valuable asset on the campaign trail."
The steak fry came at the end of a week in which several of the candidates sharply challenged Dean, who leads the field in polls both here and in New Hampshire.
Dean dismissed the attacks as "nitpicky" and said, "This is more Washington stuff, and I don't think the people are going to buy it." Gephardt said the criticisms will continue. "We're all friends, and we're all working toward the same goal," he said, "but we've got to have a legitimate debate in this race."
That will come again soon, but for a few hours here today, there was nothing but unity. Clinton joked that, in every campaign, Democrats want to fall in love with a candidate, while Republicans "just fall in line." He added, "Go ahead, fall in love, be for somebody, but when the primaries are over, let's fall in line and bring the White House back."
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