Bill Clinton Is Back as a Political Force

Bill Clinton's political stock dropped while he was on the campaign trail with Hillary in 2008, but he's clearly resurrected it, writes Joshua Green in the Boston Globe. In fact, with President Obama's approval rating on the downswing, Clinton "has emerged as the surrogate of choice for embattled Democrats." (Just ask Blanche Lincoln.)

He tends to stick with candidates who backed his wife, and he "also seems to be quietly making a point about race," writes Green, noting that Clinton stumped for Lincoln in black regions of Alabama and endorsed Kendrick Meek in Florida, "even though (or maybe especially because) both had been snubbed by Obama." Concludes Green: "It’s hardly surprising that a president stands to play a commanding role in the fall campaign. But who would have guessed it might not be Barack Obama, but Bill Clinton?" (More Bill Clinton stories.)