Stories related to: Bill Clinton

Caught up again in what she calls the Clintons' "conjugal psychodrama," New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says there is "panic and perplexity" in the Hillary camp about whether the prospective First Laddie is helping or hurting things. “For the first time since the Marc Rich pardon,” Dowd quotes a Clinton friend, “Bill is seriously diminishing his personal standing with the people closest to him.” More »

The Democratic presidential primary contest will be “a judgment on the ‘90s,” writes the New York Times ’ Matt Bai: The left is deeply conflicted about Bill Clinton and his "third way," and Hillary's “fortunes are bound up with his,” Bai says. "They might love Bill Clinton, but they loathe Clintonism"—even if they're divided on quite what that represents. More »

Hustler publisher and professional muckraker Larry Flynt is “arguably the greatest student of the American underbelly since J. Edgar Hoover"—and now he’s got big conservatives in his sights, writes Vanity Fair . Flynt, who has often offered money for the unmasking of gay or adulterous politicians, insists he’s about to expose the misdeeds of a closeted Republican senator—and that a GOP presidential candidate’s scandal may follow. More »

Mike Huckabee surged to the top of the polls in the Republican presidential contest partly because of his squeaky clean image, but the persona emerging from years as governor of Arkansas is quite different, the New York Times reports. Supporters and critics alike remember him as a hard-charging iconoclast with little tolerance for opposition and an appetite for unpopular positions. More »

As Barack Obama draws into a tie with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire polls, the New York senator looks to be leaning more and more on the relationships she and her husband established back in Bill's campaigning days. Clinton officials shrug off the tightening polls, but some find her camp's lack of energy "scary," reports the Washington Post . More »

Hillary's hubby sparked a squabble by slamming Barack Obama on Charlie Rose last night, calling the surging Dem "a gifted television commentator" and mere "symbol for change." Not only is Hillary more prepared for the Oval Office, Bill said, "it's not close." Obama reacted today by slamming "slash and burn" politics and reminding voters that he has been "in government for over a decade." More »

No Republican candidate is viewed favorably by even half of the GOP electorate, according to a new poll that also found 76% of respondents might still change their candidate. The survey found Mike Huckabee overtaking Mitt Romney nationally, and statistically tied with Rudy Giuliani. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, holds a substantial lead among Democrats, despite tight races in early-voting states. More »

In an unusually personal speech aimed at softening his wife's image, former President Bill Clinton spoke about his early days at Yale Law School courting Hillary, who struck him as "the most gifted person in our generation." People sometimes characterize his wife as calculating, but "she has spent a lifetime as a change agent when she had the option to do other things," he told a packed theater at Iowa State University. More »

Blue-collar women are crazy for Hillary Clinton; so why are the candidate’s college-educated peers less thrilled? The LA Times looks at a demographic that’s cold on the Democratic  frontrunner. Many don’t like her politics, some feel she handled her husband's infidelity poorly, and others just don’t trust her. More »

The Grammy Award will provide the staging ground for another Clinton-Obama battle—though it's Bill Clinton in this one, going up against Obama for best spoken-word album. Clinton's "Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World" faces off against Obama's "The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream." Both already have Grammys—Obama last year, Clinton in 2004 and '05. More »

Freezing rain and snow continued to pelt Iowa today as the rest of the Midwest struggled with power outages, treacherous roads, and tangled air traffic in the aftermath of yesterday's storm. At least seven people have died, all victims of collisions on ice-slicked roads. Dozens of accidents were reported in Iowa and Illinois. More »

George Bush, like Bill Clinton before him, is making a last-minute push to broker Arab-Israeli peace, but with much steeper odds, says Reuters' Arshad Mohammed. Bush, Mahmoud Abbas, and Ehud Olmert are all unpopular, especially compared to their 2000 counterparts—Clinton, Yasser Arafat, and Ehud Barak. “When Clinton tried both sides actually felt they could do it,” said an Arab diplomat. Now, neither does. More »

Fed up with waiting, a conservative public interest group is suing the National Archives to obtain White House records on Hillary Clinton when she led a health-care task force as first lady. Clinton is catching flak from her Democratic rivals for holding up release of the documents, ABC News reports. More »

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama turned up the heat on frontrunner Hillary Clinton last night on "Saturday Night Live" when he appeared in the opening sketch—a Halloween party thrown by a faux Bill and Hillary and attended by faux Democratic candidates—as himself.  Everyone was in costume, including Barack, who wore an Obama mask, then ripped it off to reveal the real thing. More »

Gerald Ford respected Bill Clinton’s prodigious political skills but thought he needed therapy for sex addiction, according to a new book of interviews the ex-president gave for posthumous publication. Ford also said Dick Cheney was a GOP liability in 2004 and recommended replacing him with Rudy Giuliani, though he refused to help oust his onetime protégé. More »

“The worst thing you can do when you work for Hillary Clinton is sit there and nod yes," one veteran of the other Clinton administration told the New York Times. Hillary has a penchant for bluntness, she likes data, and she hates meandering meetings. In an analysis of the Democratic contender's leadership style, the Times notes that Hillary is “organized,” “methodical” and “disciplined"—characteristics rarely attributed to her significant other. More »

People curious about Hillary Clinton’s role in her husband’s White House won’t find anything helpful in his presidential library, Newsweek reports. Less than 1% of the 98 million documents and emails there are public, though all are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Bill Clinton instructed librarians to “consider withholding” anything related to “policy, personal, or political” matters. More »

Erstwhile fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu had a taste for the finer things, including a 180-bottle wine collection valued at $100,000 and a saxophone seemingly signed by President Bill Clinton. Those items were in the outlaw bundler’s New York apartment, according to newly unsealed documents. One expert tells the Los Angeles Times of the sizable cellar, “It’s a little showy, but nice.” More »

Former President Clinton rakes in cash for his foundation, while a future President Clinton would have to deal with the appearance of influence-buying. Bill’s foundation isn’t required to divulge donors, and there's no apparent limit on a first spouse’s fundraising, but Salon reports many Clinton Foundation givers among Hillary’s elite—and says suspicions of impropriety are inevitable. More »

Bill Clinton plans to serve as a sort of diplomat-in-chief should his wife take up residence in the West Wing, he tells the Guardian in London, where he's on a fundraising jog and book-promotion tour. Hillary envisions a mission for him to "restore America's standing" after years of a unilateral position that has "enraged the world," said Clinton. More »